Help with soil choice..

[Norsemen24]

My 2 trees have been in the same soil for a while now, since I bought them. This soil seems to be just normal organic potting soil and from my understanding, they should be in a fast-draining rocky type soil with stuff like lava rock, Akadama, Pumic, etc..

Alot of the searches have lead me to this soil from the Bonsai Supply (see pic). To me, it just seems strange to use this as soil but I'm fairly new to this hobby. I have a cheap Home Depot bought Ficus that I'm testing the soil on, but my main goal is to get my 8 year old Fukien Tea in this soil and hope it helps it thrive better. My question is, is this soil good? Pending on the results of the Ficus test, should I use it for the Fukien Tea? (currently in normal potting soil.) I prefer to keep to a normal watering habit of every day instead of testing the soil everyday and wondering if it needs water or not.

Any direction or help in this area would be very helpful and greatly appreciated. When searching for soil recommendations you get so much variation its hard to tell what to use.

Thank you for your time!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

The first question I have is: Why should they be in fast-draining rocky soil type stuff?
Your plants look healthy and I see no reason to risk that. You seem to be on top of the watering and it's working for you.
That means the soil they're in, is not bad at all!

I use coarse inorganic soil because it rains here from about december until march. This year even until.. Yesterday.
The coarse soil is fast draining and prevents my plants from being waterlogged. If you don't experience that issue yourself, another reason to get inorganic soil is air exchange, which is nice to have since it keeps the roots healthy. However, the huge drawback is that the soil loses moisture to the air, and if there's more air, the soil will dry faster. That means for some people that they'll have to water two, maybe even three or four times a day, depending on the season and temperatures.

There have been soil wars on this forum, but I'm convinced of the following: "A soil is good if the plant is healthy and the person who waters it knows what they're doing". I've been trying to correct people who say a soil is bad, because it's mostly them over watering a soil that requires way less bonsaiesque watering techniques. Potting soil can do a week without water sometimes, bonsai soil doesn't. If we water both soils with the same intervals, the potting soil plant will die. No shame in not knowing how to water, but blaming the soil is a way of saying that one had no clue what they were doing.

Good that you do a trial, let's see how that works out for your plant. A chopstick in the soil is better than any water sensor (stick wet = no water, stick moist = water if you want, but not needed, stick dry = water). Sensors have a pretty short lifespan and might give off a wrong reading if they've gone rusty.
Just see how your plant responds and if its watering needs change. If not, you're good to go on your new soil. If they do change to your disadvantage, consider repotting them - if needed - in a similar mix they're already in.

 

[Norsemen24]

The first question I have is: Why should they be in fast-draining rocky soil type stuff?
Your plants look healthy and I see no reason to risk that. You seem to be on top of the watering and it's working for you.
That means the soil they're in, is not bad at all!

I use coarse inorganic soil because it rains here from about december until march. This year even until.. Yesterday.
The coarse soil is fast draining and prevents my plants from being waterlogged. If you don't experience that issue yourself, another reason to get inorganic soil is air exchange, which is nice to have since it keeps the roots healthy. However, the huge drawback is that the soil loses moisture to the air, and if there's more air, the soil will dry faster. That means for some people that they'll have to water two, maybe even three or four times a day, depending on the season and temperatures.

There have been soil wars on this forum, but I'm convinced of the following: "A soil is good if the plant is healthy and the person who waters it knows what they're doing". I've been trying to correct people who say a soil is bad, because it's mostly them over watering a soil that requires way less bonsaiesque watering techniques. Potting soil can do a week without water sometimes, bonsai soil doesn't. If we water both soils with the same intervals, the potting soil plant will die. No shame in not knowing how to water, but blaming the soil is a way of saying that one had no clue what they were doing.

Good that you do a trial, let's see how that works out for your plant. A chopstick in the soil is better than any water sensor (stick wet = no water, stick moist = water if you want, but not needed, stick dry = water). Sensors have a pretty short lifespan and might give off a wrong reading if they've gone rusty.
Just see how your plant responds and if its watering needs change. If not, you're good to go on your new soil. If they do change to your disadvantage, consider repotting them - if needed - in a similar mix they're already in.

Ok thank you, Thats all very good information. The chopstick thing is great and I would never have thought of that.