help with soil mix

Ficusboy101 · Post by **Ficusboy101** » December 18th, 2013, 8:18 pm

hi where i live i have no access to bonsai nurseries unless you call bunnings a bonsai nurseries and i am at the point where i am using poor soil as it is inexpensive and easy to find the soil i am using has not very good drainage and has allready killed two of my projects as of root rot so i am wondeing what soil to use but it has to be inexpensive and easy to get my hands on it

Josh · Post by **Josh** » December 18th, 2013, 8:26 pm

The first thing is good bonsai soil and inexpensive don't go together. I think nearly everyone starts using cheap mix till their plants die. If you can't buy a good mix then make your own. Their are heaps of threads on here with different mixes people use. Most garden supply places have the ingredients to make a good mix, some will need the fines sieved out. Do you have a bunnings near by. They have ok bonsai mixes. If you give your actual location (NT is a big place) might help to.

Josh.

Ficusboy101 · Post by **Ficusboy101** » December 18th, 2013, 8:38 pm

Josh wrote:The first thing is good bonsai soil and inexpensive don't go together. I think nearly everyone starts using cheap mix till their plants die. If you can't buy a good mix then make your own. Their are heaps of threads on here with different mixes people use. Most garden supply places have the ingredients to make a good mix, some will need the fines sieved out. Do you have a bunnings near by. They have ok bonsai mixes. If you give your actual location (NT is a big place) might help to.

Josh.

i live in darwin and have several bunnings near me

shibui · Post by **shibui** » December 18th, 2013, 8:44 pm

Try 'Cacti and Succulent' mix in bags at most nurseries, including Bunnings. Members of our club have found it has better drainage properties and bonsai do better in it than the stuff they sell as bonsai mix. It is a great alternative if you only have a few trees or cannot find the right materials to make your own mix.
For a couple of years I used Debco Tub and terracotta mix successfully as well. It also has good particle size and has extra fert, etc than cheaper mix. It is in larger bags. Many premium commercial mixes should be ok for most bonsai use but you might have to adjust your watering to suit the mix. Cheaper mixes tend to have more smaller sawdust and less larger pine bark particles and are not so good in smaller pots

Andrew F · Post by **Andrew F** » December 18th, 2013, 8:46 pm

Ficusboy101 wrote:
Josh wrote:The first thing is good bonsai soil and inexpensive don't go together. I think nearly everyone starts using cheap mix till their plants die. If you can't buy a good mix then make your own. Their are heaps of threads on here with different mixes people use. Most garden supply places have the ingredients to make a good mix, some will need the fines sieved out. Do you have a bunnings near by. They have ok bonsai mixes. If you give your actual location (NT is a big place) might help to.

Josh.
i live in darwin and have several bunnings near me

If bunno's is the only avenue for potting mix aformer member of the forum put me onto succulent and cacti mix, its free draining although its a good idea to add some diatomite if available.

Ficusboy101 · Post by **Ficusboy101** » December 18th, 2013, 8:56 pm

thanks for the suggestions fellow artists with your guidance i may get to the standards that you are at one day

Drac0 · Post by **Drac0** » December 18th, 2013, 10:24 pm

You can also add river sand to the mix for extra drainage. You just need to be sure to sieve out all the finer grains. I found that sifted course sand mixed with the coir peat blocks (a couple of dollars each from Bunnings/Kmart/Coles/etc) worked well.

Cheers

thoglette · Post by **thoglette** » December 19th, 2013, 7:59 am

Drac0 wrote:You can also add river sand to the mix for extra drainage. You just need to be sure to sieve out all the finer grains.

Darwin has great coarse sand everywhere - use some old flyscreen as sieve. And use the afternoon downpour to rinse the fines away!

Get some VitaPet Purrfit Litter Clay from Big W or similar (it's actually Zeolite and pre-sifted to remove fines);

Get some Cacti or Orchid mix or Coir or fine Pine bark mulch from your favourite garden supplier (or the big green box). You're trying to find 3-5mm bits of organic stuff.

Then A good all purpose mix is one part of each. Less organics for stuff needing really good drainage.

Isitangus · Post by **Isitangus** » December 19th, 2013, 9:36 am

Get some VitaPet Purrfit Litter Clay from Big W or similar (it's actually Zeolite and pre-sifted to remove fines);

You can also get zeolite in the form/name of zeochlor from bunnings-in the pool isle-big bag for $15.

Jow · Post by **Jow** » December 19th, 2013, 11:08 am

What sized particles are the kitty litter and pool products?

Isitangus · Post by **Isitangus** » December 19th, 2013, 3:54 pm

Zeochlor particles are 1-2mm-I'll try to get a pic.

thoglette · Post by **thoglette** » December 19th, 2013, 4:03 pm

Jow wrote:What sized particles are the kitty litter and pool products?

Purrfitt from 2.5mm to 4mm, pretty consistent.

Graeme · Post by **Graeme** » December 20th, 2013, 12:16 am

Mate, get yourself some Mary River sand from any of the soil suppliers up there, seive it through some flyscreen and mix it with the best potting mix you can afford. When I was in Darwin I used to mix it 50/50, but if you cannot find the time to water every day put a little less sand in the mix. Mary River sand is a really course sand and is a great additive to potting mix. By all means chuck a bit of zeolite into the mix as well. You are going to need a real free draining mix for the next few months up there, if not already.

P.S. over the wet season you will have to up your fertilizing as well, or your trees will get really hungry.

AusBonsai