Vinny,

I use mostly 1/8" (3 mm) to 1/3" (8 mm) particles for most of my trees. I
also have a screen at 1/4" (6 mm) and the smaller trees get more of the 3 -
6 mm while the larger ones get more of the 6 - 8 mm. For the really large
trees and bottoms of the larger pots (to just cover the drainage holes) I
also screen at 1/2" (12 mm). Finally, I save the 1/16" (1.5 mm) to 1/8" for
use to root cuttings, soil topping for shows, and as part of the mix for
very small (handful sized) pots.

You can buy special screens, but I buy hardware cloth and make my own.
Window screen (1/16"), 1/8", 1/4", and 1/2" are fairly easy to find at
decent hardware stores and even most of the big box home improvement stores.
The best source I have found for 1/3" is McMaster-Carr (currently page 340)
at http://www.mcmaster.com/. The openings in wire screen are square and a 4
x 4 screen (per inch) has gaps between the wires of 0.203" to 0.215"
depending upon the wire gauge so the maximum size of a spherical particle
that will fit through this is less than 1/4". However, our soil components
not spherical I just go by the nominal size.

Marty

-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ] On Behalf Of
Vincent Kreyling
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 10:10 AM
To:
Subject: [IBC] soil particles

Hello all,

As a someone fairly new to the obsession we all call bonsai I have been
following the soil thread with great interest as I begin to get the
components I would like to use in the soil mixes for my repotting next
spring. I want to start getting the right type and size components, both
organic and inorganic. I was curious about the size I should be using for
the inorganic soil components that will be used in the mix. Most of my
plants that I have now are at least shohin size or larger. I have some
Japanese maples, Junipers (nana), pines (japanese black and scots), mugo
pine, hinoki cypress, chamycypheris, japanese boxwood, podocarpus, ulmus
(chinese and siberian), pomegranete, ficus, carmonophylla, bougainvilla,
buttonwood and a serissa. I was thinking of trying to incorporate Akadama
into my mixes this coming year and was looking for input from the group. I
live in zone 7 on Long Island, New York. Thanks in advance for all your
input.

Vinny

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