Soil substrate soil

Horticulture
1

I have several Hinoki Cypress . I’m looking ng to pot them from a nursery pot. What soil mix would you use 1-1-1 or 1-1-1 take out the 1/16?

Bill D

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2

I am interested for a reply here. I have two smaller ones I need to repot this spring.

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3

I’d go more like 2-1-1 and leave the 1/16” in.
On smaller trees in small containers you might even go to 3-1-1

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4

Hinoki love water. I’d definitely go at least 2:1:1 and wouldn’t be too shy to go 3:1:1. Watch the hinoki stream. Ryan mentions what he used there.

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5

Sorry to drag up an old post but 1:1:1 of what?

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6

Akadama:Pumice:Lava (scoria)

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7

Thanks. With akadama not being readily available I would like to know what could possibly be substituted in it’s place. I know that akadama is THE substrate to grow bonsai in but wondering what it’s main function in the soil other than creating great ramification. Water retention? I know that over here in Israel Ofer Grunwald is using pretty much lava, perlite and vermiculite. I want to see if I can get hold of some pumice.
What is the function of the pumice in the mix?

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8

Akadama has a high cation exchange capacity, something pumice and scoria doesn’t really have. Akadama also holds onto a lot of water.

Pumice is very similar to perlite. It mostly holds water and also helps maintain air spaces.

In your situation it’s probably best to ask other local people what they use.

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9

I’m going to have to look into cation exchange capacity. I have no idea what this is.

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10

Ah it’s basically the ability to hold onto the nutrition that fertilizer provides. Soil needs to hold onto it so that the roots can utilize the nutrition.

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11

Is this what they were talking about during the podcast and the fulvic acid acting as a type of Velcro to bind more nutrients?

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12

Yeah basically. At a molecular level the nutrients need something to grab onto in the soil or otherwise they get completely flushed out of the system when water flows through the system.

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13

Also keep in mind that akadama is a refinement tool. If your trees are still in development then there’s no real need for akadama. By “in development” I mean your trees that aren’t ready for pots. In those cases I use decomposed pine bark as a replacement.

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