substrate

Hi! Would like to do some sense checking here on my soil plans. Location- Yorkshire U.K. Watering schedule- lazy/free style- once a day in growing season and nothing in U.K. wet season: they sit on grass in my backyard see pic attached. 1. For prebonsai material or in early development...

Substrate question with a LOT of background: I started in bonsai 16 months ago (after decades in other horticultural hobbies) and have over a dozen species of Shohin-sized tropicals. I live in Wisconsin, USA (zone 5). Some trees live indoors under good SpiderFarmer lights year-round, others go...

I've heard much about the ideal substrate for mature trees in their final pots, getting their ramification, but I don't believe I've seen much said about what to use for developing trees. Specifically I'm talking about trees that I'm just trying to thicken the trunks of. I think I've once heard...

It's getting closer to that repotting time and I think a big issue I had in my first year was not filtering out and going with set particle sizes for my substrate mixes. I learned this to be a big noob mistake as all the smaller particle substrate moves to the bottom as you water and you end up...

Check out this beautiful Red Maple I just dug from the swamp. Stunning nebari and a leader branch already set in for me. Can’t wait to see where this goes! Trunk is about 6 inches wide at the base. Tips on styling are always welcome. Especially regarding those big cuts!

I'm trying to come up with a baseline soil mix at an economic price, using locally sourced products. After lots of searching, these are the products U've been able to source: -a product called SafeTSorb, which is Turfice, -Lava Rock that is used for charcoal BBQ's (which I have to manually...

As I am just getting into this hobby, I want to have basic control over what mixtures of soil I use for my various trees, instead of buying pre-mix from Amazon in 2-quart bags. I am thinking that I probably want individual containers of: Akadama (perhaps medium size for established trees, and...

I currently have two ficus microcarpa. The first is tiny and I've had it since the fall. It seems to love my apartment conditions so I made a much larger investment on a second one. The new one is about 25" tall out of the pot, so something fairly large that I desperately want to keep alive...

Hey everyone, I’m working to formulate an affordable local alternative to buying Boons Mix, and have ended up with lots of bags of dirt and rocks! Welcome to crazy is right! I’m fascinated staring at stumps and dirt now. Will normal people understand? I am at this point thinking of mixing...

I'm new to bonsai, been doing it for about a year or two now. I've got a red alder in my drive way that I'm planning on collecting this spring but I'm not sure about which substrate mix to use. I've got pumice, lava rock, and peat moss on hand, does any one have a ratio recommendations? Thanks...

Among orchid growers, the use of foam glass as a substrate is gaining popularity. This foam glass has more than 50% open pores, in contrast to the construction foam glass. It has a different faction. Link to eBay as an example. I got an idea: why not use it as a substrate for bonsai? In its...

Morning guys n gals, I have some umbrella thorns that I started from seed about a year ago. I repotted the 3 survivors, along with some new seedlings yesterday. I went with a mix of 50/50 lava and pumice, with some desert sand thrown in, as the reading I've done on these says that they like...

Hi all, I have a question that I cant seem to find an answer to online or in my books. I live in zone 6b and I am just getting into conifers. I currently have a small white pine and a cypress. Im not trying to bind them yet or anything. I just want them to be happy and healthy for a year or...

I've been doing a lot of reading up on substrate mixes and there's one aspect of it that I'm left wondering about. It may be a really dumb question, but as a newbie I hope to get away with it :-P When you guys have decided on a substrate mix you wanna use in general, do you then; - Use it for...

I am apparently several hours from a shop that sells akadama, pumice, or lava rock. And the majority of the local shops only sell potting soil, lekaculor (clay pebbles), and orchid mix. So this is the mix I have created - 1/2 potting soil/small lecakulor mix - 1/4 perlite - 1/4 orchid mix...

If substrate has suppieor draning to potting soil, than why not use substrate in flour beds and raised gardens instead of potting soil?

I have an empty 55 gallon aquarium sitting in the garage and I've just discovered terrariums while surfing the web. They seem really cool and since I like bonsai, I was wondering if I could plant 2 ficus bonsai opposite each other in the aquarium? I have a plan to make a "miniature pond" in the...

Here is the second resource developed from the thread "Introductory Soil Physics". It is a document explaining how the important physical properties in soil and substrates combine to control the amount of air and water in the pore space of soils. It discusses what a drainage layer does and how...