And while i am in reply mode...

Brent at Evergreen Gardenworks wrote:
The major cause of soil collapse is
loss of particle size due to _composting_ of the organic
portion. By
using composted bark, you are using a material that already
has one
foot in the grave.

But, Brent, is there not some nutritional value to be gained
through the
composting process? I know that when my wife composts kitchen
waste,
etc. for her garden, she does it in order to add more than just
(for
lack of a better word) fibre to the soil. It works like a slow
release
organic fertilizer for her.


The short answer is: yes.

But!

The actual NUTRITIONAL value of compost is quite small, even for
manure compost. (Manures themselves have a small nutritional
value -- for instance, 1.1-0.8-0.5 for chicken manure, the most
"potent" of the manures.

The main value of compost in the garden is adding "tilth" to the
soil. Tilth is one of those hard-to-define terms, but basically
it means making hard-clay garden (or field) soil permeable, or in
places like south Florida to make very sandy soil hold water for
a bit longer.

Our bonsai soil -- large grains and inorganic -- is 100%
permeable already.

Adding compost to this mix clogs up the pres between soil grains
and makes the soil hold more water than it should and for longer
periods. The result with many trees will be root rot -- and
death. For bonsai, drainage is the MOST important factor in the
soil. Usually the soils we use have absolutely NO nutritional
value. They are, in fact, soil-less. We supply nutrients in
other ways.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Bonsaiests
are like genealogists: We know our roots!

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