After spending time with local club members, I have more questions than
answers about what I should use for soil in the desert. Everyone I have
talked to uses cactus mix, one person in particular uses cactus mix with
composted bark and peat. He says that raw organics that haven't been
composted take nitrogen from the tree as they decompose. I have been
using the raw fir bark, turface and pumice mix and have found it to dry
out way too fast. At this point, I don't see anyone using a coarse mix,
but I have seen composted cactus mix work very well. I have bought
trees from Mike Hagedorn that are in a soilless mix of lava rock,
akadama and pumice. They do great in Oracle (Zone 10) but are
traumatized or killed by the desert heat (Zone 12) in that mix. The
ones I have repotted in 1/2 organic mix turn right around and are very
healthy. Finally, is the composted material better than raw? It seems
the desert puts the trees and soil to the most extreme test and it is a
bit confusing. Though, the experiments continue...
Brian in Tucson

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