What to do with boxed bonsai?

[snaps48]

Ynot,

I see how dumb my quoted questions were there aly.. I must have been tired...Sorry about that & Thanks.

*shrugs* Happens. I know I was tired when I was posting in the wee hours last night/this morning.

When putting the new soil into the pot did you compress it or push it into place using your hands to tamp it down by any chance? This would possibly compress the soil enough to do what you mention.

I didn't press the soil down, but I did manipulate it quite a bit as I was putting it in with the plant. I put small layers in at a time and kind of, er, poked at it/brushed it/moved it around.

If so, I would sift enough to do a repot [Do not repot yet] and post a picture of how that looks [Please include a coin or something in the picture that we can use for scale].
This water repellent soil is very puzzling.

Will do. Probably I'll post it in the morning. I'll also post a pic of the stuff in with the ficus now. While repotting and having all of my floating soil trouble, I did wind up semi-straining it with a collander and running water, as I was quite frustrated. Would that have helped at all? The collander I used was approximately window mesh size, maybe slightly larger.

~aly

[Gnome]

Aly,

Do I need to take the trees out of the soil, do a screening, and stick them back in?

You will find it difficult to sift damp soil.

Ynot wrote:

You have some of the tropical soil left over yes? Do you have a way to sift it?... If so, I would sift enough to do a repot

For that matter, and I almost mentioned this earlier, do you have any of the other (Juniper) mix left over? If so, there is no reason that you cannot combine these two products, still sifting of course. This will of course reduce the percentage of organics in your soil, which should please Ynot.

If you find that you still do not have enough soil and you want to re-pot you can take the trees out of their pots, wrap them in some damp paper towel and wrap the roots with plastic while the soil dries a bit. You can speed this process by putting the soil in a warm oven until it is dry enough to sift.

Norm

[snaps48]

Here's a picture of the soil - pre straining, post straining, and what's in there with them now.

[url=https://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3soilgp8.jpg][img]https://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6600/3soilgp8.th.jpg[/img][/url]

I probably have enough just enough soil left over if I use the juniper soil and mix them together. If I take Gnome's suggestion and reuse the soil in there, I definitely have enough.

Please let me know if the picture is no good and I need to fix it.

~aly

[ynot]

I didn't press the soil down, but I did manipulate it quite a bit as I was putting it in with the plant. I put small layers in at a time and kind of, er, poked at it/brushed it/moved it around.

Sounds good, Well done.

Here's a picture of the soil - pre straining, post straining, and what's in there with them now. ~
Please let me know if the picture is no good and I need to fix it.

[url=https://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3soilgp8.jpg][img]https://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6600/3soilgp8.th.jpg[/img][/url]

This is an excellent photo Thank you for posting this comparison

I added just a bit of text:

[url=https://imageshack.us][img]https://img77.imageshack.us/img77/1397/snapssoilszr6.jpg[/img][/url]

As I noted the middle pile looks awesome to me [Much like my soil in fact] Considering it is for your ficus you may [as noted] want to add just a bit more organic unless you are really in love with watering as this will dry quickly. Please wait for other opinions on that.

I really do hope this picture gets viewed by many people so that they can see the comparison wrt particle size and composition of 'Bonsai soil' as compared to what they generally think of as 'soil'.

Thanks again for such a great picture .

I probably have enough just enough soil left over if I use the juniper soil and mix them together. If I take Gnome's suggestion and reuse the soil in there, I definitely have enough.

Gnomes idea is great IMO.

Have you considered contacting the retailer about your juniper as I suggested?

ynot

[snaps48]

Ynot -

This is an excellent photo Thank you for posting this comparison

Thanks! And you're welcome! Thank you for your added commentary.

Quick question - The one all the way to the right, the 'what's in there now' is the same soil. All three are the same soil. The one on the right is just wet, and has actually been strained a bit while wet. Maybe I'll let it dry and re-photo to see if that makes a difference in what it looks like? I'm out until tomorrow night anyway, so I wouldn't be able to repot until then.

As for the juniper, it was a gift from a friend, so it'll take a bit to figure out how to go about that. I do plan to pursue it, though.

Thanks again!
~aly

[ynot]

This is an excellent photo Thank you for posting this comparison

Thanks! And you're welcome! Thank you for your added commentary.

Your welcome . I call 'em like I see 'em .

Quick question - The one all the way to the right, the 'what's in there now' is the same soil. All three are the same soil.

I know this and understand completely.
However, They [Due to the compositional differences between them due to the sieving.] would function differently as their moisture retention properties differ and this makes them essentially 'different' soils in a very fundamental sense.

The one on the right is just wet, and has actually been strained a bit while wet. Maybe I'll let it dry and re-photo to see if that makes a difference in what it looks like? I'm out until tomorrow night anyway, so I wouldn't be able to repot until then.

[Sieving wet soil is usually not very effective as Gnome noted.]
Letting it dry will change what it looks like, But it does not change it's composition any. If you have time for a quick experiment do this:

Take 3 Styrofoam cups and cut them down to half, Poke a bunch of holes or cut notches in the bottom so it will drain completely [This is important].
Fill one with each type of soil and then soak them completely. Set them aside and see how long they take to dry. You will find the RH soil in the picture takes far far longer.

My point is that it looking different when dry doesn't change how it works.

As for the juniper, it was a gift from a friend, so it'll take a bit to figure out how to go about that. I do plan to pursue it, though.

Ok, I'd just ask them. After all, They didn't want to give you a dead tree

ynot