Xref: kermit rec.arts.bonsai:75853

A little side note to the organic/inorganic thread; a few years ago at the
Pacific Rim collection they noticed one of the trees going down hill shortly
after being repotted. They couldn't figure out what the problem was for
some time; finally after having the bark mulch that they were using analyzed
they discovered that it was laden with salt. It had apparently come from
logs that were floated in seawater on the way to the mill. They repotted
the tree using 100% inorganic soil, and it subsequently recovered. Dave
DeGroot has since eliminated the bark component from their soil mix and uses
straight inorganic media for everything in the collection, not wanting to
risk using any more contaminated bark.

I don't remember the exact mix of soil components they use, but looking at
it, it is mostly red lava rock in the 1/8" size range.

Regards,
Roger Snipes Spokane, WA Zone 5, or maybe Zone 6.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it,
and then misapplying the wrong remedies. Groucho Marx (1895-1977)

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