Soil for pre-bonsai Vs. bonsai??

[Ramman]

Hello everybody nursery plants like jasmine,azalea and holly are in organic potting soil when brought home . after leaving it alone for a few days and maybe trimming or pruning should repot in non- organic bonsai soil or leave as is. Sorry for grammar it’s late.

 

[TrevorLarsen]

I use a mix of 70% perlite 30% coco coir for growing trees out. Once you put it into a small pot you will want to use akadama pimice lava mix.

 

[pandacular]

There are a lot of options, and some of them are dependent on what’s locally available. Here in the PNW, we lean on pumice, as it has very nice characteristics and is quite cheap. That mixed with coco coir is my go-to pre-bonsai mix, and I mix it with akadama for my trees in bonsai pots.

Perlite is a good alternative to pumice, but I would recommend getting the larger granules and sifting them to size, I believe #3 horticultural grade is what I’ve been recommended. The biggest downsides of perlite compared to pumice are the softness making chopsticking more difficult, the light weight, and the tendency to break down after multiple uses.

 

[TrevorLarsen]

Also with perlite you will want to have a top dressing of sphagnum moss since it’s light and water will move it too much.

 

[Paradox]

I don't know about Jasmine or Holly, but for azalea, I use either 100% Kanuma or 50/50 Kanuma and pumice. It's better for them than lava, akadama and pumice

Also feed them with miracid or another fertilizer for acid loving plants

 

[Shibui]

Hello everybody nursery plants like jasmine,azalea and holly are in organic potting soil when brought home . after leaving it alone for a few days and maybe trimming or pruning should repot in non- organic bonsai soil or leave as is. Sorry for grammar it’s late.

To repot or not will depend most on the time of year. I'm all for getting trees into a standard as soon as possible mix so watering and care is easier but only repot at the appropriate time of year for your area.
Pre bonsai will do well in bonsai mix but will also do equally well in any good potting soil providing care matches the soil. Same as for bonsai pots - the shallower the pots the more critical it seems to be to use a more open mix. Deeper pots can cope with most commercial potting soil provided you maintain appropriate watering and care to suit the pots and the soil.
There's no problem swapping out ordinary potting soil for a bonsai mix when the tree goes into a bonsai pot. Pines may need a little extra care but all other species I've worked with can cope with 100% soil removal and replacement.