I made crappy soil

[Jaberwky17]

My first attempt at soil mix was clearly a poor one. Good news is the trees have only been in it for a month.

I mixed equal parts sphagnum, el-cheapo kitty litter, and some awesome gravel-sized lava rock. The litter was not the right kind and after a few weeks it seems it has turned to mush. One of my little cypress trees showed signs of overwatering, but the top inch of soil appeared to be draining well and nearly dry between waterings. I decided to pull the tree and repot - it was going to die from over watering if I didn't, so a second repot in a season can't be any worse. WHen I pulled the tree the bottom half of the pot was soil so gummy and thick I had to scrape it out with a tool!

My new mix is 2 parts granite chicken grit, 1 part floor dry (yes it's diatomaceous earth), and 1 part sphagnum. A little vermiculite and a few shakes of 10-10-10 fertilizer pellets.

After repotting the cypress the soil CLEARLY drains far better. None of my other trees are showing signs of stress but I'm worried that none of them should be in my original soil. Thinking I should take a chance and repot everything carefully with no root pruning at all. I am using one soil for all trees for now as I learn (hinoki cypress, white pine, juniper, boxwood, azalea, maple, lilac)

 

[Jason_mazzy]

Why sphagnum? I would start with 3 parts DE
1-2 parts pumice
1 part sifted pine bark (if you have to have organics)
And maybe 1 part lava

 

[Jaberwky17]

Why sphagnum? I would start with 3 parts DE
1-2 parts pumice
1 part sifted pine bark (if you have to have organics)
And maybe 1 part lava

Cause I couldnt find a local source for pine bark. I live in the hinterlands.

 

[Jason_mazzy]

I see. You don't need an organic in your bonsai soil most likely. Majority of my stuff has no organic. In fact some of the plants that thrive the best are in pure DE. It is safer though to have a mix so mostly use just DE and pumice (stall dry).