"Isom, Jeff (EM, PTL)" wrote:

A local landscape supply company here sells something they call "shrub and
bedding" soil. It is a mixture of topsoil, shredded bark, and course sand.
You can buy it for something like $15 for a pickup truck bed full (1/2
yard). Buy one or two bags of Turface or Scotts clay soil conditioner and
mix in there and you have a relatively cheap close proximity to Bonsai soil.
If you are planting into large grow boxes or better yet, in the ground,
there is not as much need to get rid of the fines...at least my collected
stuff didn't seem to mind.


Ditto. In a box there's more room, and I find I don't have to be as strict about
the contents of the soil. This kind of mixture still drains pretty well yet
retains enough moisture.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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