Anil Kaushik wrote:

Nina

I have not been able to understand why you people do not add natural soil to
the Bonsai compost! I don't think it can really create problems when coarse
ingredients like turface, grit and bark are there in the mix.

snip

Please answer the first sentence.

Regards

Anil Kaushik
Bonsai Club (India)
Chandigarh "The City Beautiful"


Anil:
With the encouragement of my wife, the queen of compost, Anita Hawkins, this year I
started adding compost to my soil as part of the organic component. I have found
that *sifted* compost (note the emphasis) is not dense, but is actually very fluffy
and water still drains well from it. It is certainly not the largest part of my
soil, generally no more than about a third, but I had pretty good results this
year. The more coarse part of my soil is composted bark, turface, and gravel. I
am not as strict in measuring it as some are.

I have not had any problems with root rot, etc. that could happen if I weren't
careful. This provides, I feel, the natural organic elements that the tree is
going to look for in nature.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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