making my own tropical soil mix

[caseykckckc]

hi there. i recently purchased a new ficus and elephant bush bonsai which had to be repotted into pots. i bought some of this stuff... http://www.amazon.com/Hoffman-10708-Bonsai-Soil-Quarts/dp/B00147Z8S2 but seemed way too gritty for a tropical. so i added in some regular potting soil and made about a 60/40 mixture of potting soil/gritty bonsai mix. it came out to a fairly nice consistency in my opinion. my question is will that mixture will do fine or am i going to have to order some pre made tropical soil substrate? thanks

 

[mat]

That mix will probably be fine (in my opinion), though I'm only going based on the picture on the side of the bag - never used that brand. I've been using about a 60% turface/40% jungle growth potting mix, and my Ficus seem to like that. (I change it up a little depending on the tree and pot that it's for). It's all about your watering. Jim Smith keeps his pre-bonsai in what looks like an all organic mix. Then when moved to a bonsai pot, they go into 100% turface. 100% turface will dry out pretty quickly in Florida's heat, so he must have them set to be watered several times a day. If you can't give them as much attention, I think the organic material will help keep things moist.

The portulacaria could probably use less of the organics. They don't need a lot of water and can rot pretty easily if sitting in too much.

Just my 2 cents.

Are your trees outside? Is it warm there?

 

[tatorger]

I have two ficus planted in that exact mix for about two years now and they are doing wonderfully, it has alot of fines though so needs to be sifted.

 

[Nojnagrom]

I have always used 100% turface it works well for me i have used it for ficus and schefflera