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[IBC] Satsuki problem, soils ( I changed the title as subject drifted)
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Subject: [IBC] Satsuki problem - bark splitting Kevin said: I can't say if this happens in a free draining soil as I have yet to transfer any of my Satsuki over to expensive Japanese proprietary brands such as Kanuma. Mine are grown in peat and bark based mixtures which can't really be described as free draining. The Japanese soils are poor vehicles for the transfer of fertilizer, and for this reason frequent flushing of fertilizer and the addition of organic content (from cakes) is an excellent practice. However, the 300 year old azalea was planted in a standard mix of turface, haydite, orchid bark, and coarse sand. Cordially, Michael Persiano Mike, I'm kind of suprised to read that you use a similar mix to what I've been using for 25 years ( except I don't use the turface with haydite). I thought I had read in the past that you used Japanese soils on azaleas. Maybe I'm wrong. BTW, with our freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw Ohio winters the japanese soils quickly turn to mush. I've seen a few REALLY nice trees dead over winter and when pulled out in spring it looked like two-year-old cat litter sopping mush! My normal soil FOR EVERYTHING ( Including azaleas) is haydite, large silica sand, orchid bark and either a LITTLE forest humus or decompossed pine bark ( whichever I manage to find when I need it all of a sudden). For last couple years I also add in a SMALL amount of a product from our sewage plant which is a composted sawdust/bark and "waste". good stuff, we used to till it into our city flower beds every Spring here in Akron. Maybe a couple coffee cans to a wheelbarrow. They say to keep below 15% of mix, so no problem. With the exception of the recent "black magic" :) I've used that for many years now. Heck, I don't even cover the tops of my azalea pots with magic Japanese sphagnum moss :) My teacher, Keith Scott, FOREVER used a mixture of turface, silica sand and pro-mix, on everything! After turface became "found" locally for bonsai mix ( By Tony Mihalik BTW) he/we used that usually instead of turface. Easier to get and cheaper. I still remember a huge pile of haydite in Keiths drive for a long time! BTW, I NEVER saw Keith sift soil...ever! and, in 25 years I can say that I've also NEVER sifted a cup of soil. People are always astounded when I tell them that :) FYI, for screen I use 1/4" or 1/8" hardware cloth. except for the last year I've been using up some of that stamped screen for masonry. I had a bunch left after chimney repairs and couldn't just throw it out! Works fine but rusts out much quicker than galvanized hardware cloth will last. As per cakes, yep I like useing mine ( poo ball mix on my webpages) when I can afford the time to get batches made, ( people keep asking for them but they take second seat to pottery time) otherwise I use plain old Miraclegrow. One last thing ( always gets people as much as not sifting :) When I bare root collected stuff to remove clay-ee field soil and pot up in larger training pots I use a mix of haydite and what-ever kind of smallest pine bark I can find at the nursery for cheap. I produce roots faster in this than any bonsai mix I use, AND it's cheaper/easier/quicker to mix, just doesn't look as nice. The times I've used pre-mixed bagged bonsai soils ( in '95 when I had a store and used more soil than I could get mixed up myself) I never got rooting as good as the cheap and dirty haydite/bark mix.. I use miracle grow with this often for developement. Go figure! Regards, Dale " How can I use unsifted soil?" Cochoy Wild Things Bonsai Studio, Hartville, Ohio http://www.WildThingsBonsai.Com Specializing in power wood carving tools. Yakimono no Kokoro bonsai pottery of hand-built stoneware ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by John Quinn++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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