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bougainvillea potting medium

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drgonzo
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Post  JamesRB Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:01 pm

I would like to know if repotting a b. in a medium that consists of lava rock and an organic mixture that is used in hydroponic gardening would be ok...it consists of coco fiber, perlite, pumice, worm castings, bat guano, kelp meal and a couple other items. The mixture is not coarse but that fine either. I was thinking that with the lava rock permeability would stay optimal. Any thoughts? Thanks!
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Post  fiona Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:32 pm

What works for me in the very wet and not awfully hot west of Scotland is the dregs from my other bonsai soils mixed in with a little bit of general purpose garden compost bought from the hardware store. In other words I don't really give it a great deal of thought and just use what I've got available even if that is a mixture of things. All of which goes to prove that either there's a lot of hoo-hah science written about bonsai soils or I'm just one jammy sod as we say over here.(lucky person if you want a translation).

Or both.
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Post  fiona Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:36 pm

On the basis that that last post might have sounded like I'm being derogatory about your soil question, I guess what I'm really saying is that as far as I am concerned I adopt the basic horticultural principles of tree soil preferences (i.e acidic or otherwise) and keeping the soil open and free draining but also retentive enough for whatever the immediate purpose is. If your ingredient list does that then you have a good chance of survival. Good luck.

Bat guano eh? No hot shit!

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Post  JimLewis Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:24 pm

My bougie is in 90% Turface and 10 percent composted pine bark and has been for years. They do NOT need a soil that retains a lot of water.
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Post  drgonzo Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:31 pm

I've got 1 year old Bougy clones, larger 3 year plants, and my big specimen Bougy ALL thriving in 100% turface. I personally would leave out the guano...good balanced liquid fertilizer is much more efficient in bonsai soil I have found.

-Jay
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Post  rock Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:35 pm

JamesRB wrote:I would like to know if repotting a b. in a medium that consists of lava rock and an organic mixture that is used in hydroponic gardening would be ok...it consists of coco fiber, perlite, pumice, worm castings, bat guano, kelp meal and a couple other items. The mixture is not coarse but that fine either. I was thinking that with the lava rock permeability would stay optimal. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Lava yes
coco fiber, No
Perlite ,yes if very large to cut weight, sift out fines
pumice yes, wash dust off first
Worm,bat, kelp, ,mix together and make a small ball and apply to surface

Bougy roots are very wispy, the soil need structure, and give 5 years between repots, Ive gone 10, roots just arent agressive

good luck Very Happy
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Post  Poink88 Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:45 pm

As mentioned, Bouggies prefer to be on the dry side than wet...especially if you want them to bloom. Adjust your soil mixture to your local weather and watering regimen. I personally would take out the coco fiber & "fertilizers" off the mix.

I do not own one now but have a lot in the Philippines and Guam. The only one I owned here in TX died when I forgot to bring it in last Feb and it froze. Evil or Very Mad
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bougainvillea potting medium Empty Thank you all for your input, greatly appreciated...one thing?

Post  JamesRB Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:53 pm

I am curious as to why so many of you had said to not use the worm shit??? The worm droppings! sorry trying to be sunny on this noreaster
day locked in this wind tunell. And why not the coconut fines?
thanks again for all of your inputs...this is so kool!
jb
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Post  Poink88 Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:44 pm

JamesRB wrote:...why not the coconut fines?
Coconut fiber (husk) retains too much water and deteriorates very fast. Your soil will eventually collapse because of it.
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Post  drgonzo Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:06 pm

JamesRB wrote:I am curious as to why so many of you had said to not use the worm shit???
jb

Any animal manure (or Annelida manure in this case) that you incorporate directly into your soil mixture will need to be broken down by soil bacteria in order for its nutriment to be made available to the plant, if your using a primarily inorganic media this process can be very slow and inefficient. so its a good bet your castings will turn to mud and clog your soil porosity LONG before your Bougey is ready for re-potting.

A better choice if your interested in using natural fertilizers is to make 'poo-poo balls', there are many recipes available online, but yet again it is soil bacteria that make the nutriment thats washed into the soil from the fertilizer balls available to the plant, thats why I so ebulliently(!) advise urea free liquid fertilizers with chelated micro elements for use with primarily inorganic soils as they have done the best for me with pure turface after having tried most other fertilizer delivery methods.

-Jay
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Post  JimLewis Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:18 pm

I am curious as to why so many of you had said to not use the worm shit???

Too fine. It totally gums up your soil and adversely affects drainage.
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Post  JamesRB Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:31 am

the medium is 20% organic mixture and the remaining is small/medium lava particles...
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Post  Mnhthu99 Sun Jan 29, 2012 1:33 pm

drgonzo wrote:I've got 1 year old Bougy clones, larger 3 year plants, and my big specimen Bougy ALL thriving in 100% turface. I personally would leave out the guano...good balanced liquid fertilizer is much more efficient in bonsai soil I have found.

-Jay
Drgonzo Hello!
I agree with your way.
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Post  Bob Pressler Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:31 pm

rock wrote:
JamesRB wrote:I would like to know if repotting a b. in a medium that consists of lava rock and an organic mixture that is used in hydroponic gardening would be ok...it consists of coco fiber, perlite, pumice, worm castings, bat guano, kelp meal and a couple other items. The mixture is not coarse but that fine either. I was thinking that with the lava rock permeability would stay optimal. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Lava yes
coco fiber, No
Perlite ,yes if very large to cut weight, sift out fines
pumice yes, wash dust off first
Worm,bat, kelp, ,mix together and make a small ball and apply to surface

Bougy roots are very wispy, the soil need structure, and give 5 years between repots, Ive gone 10, roots just arent agressive

good luck Very Happy

I use my regular bonsai mix which is very free draining and has about 10% organics- I also repot them every year or two at the most- if not the roots get so dense that water can't drain through them. Don't quite understand why yours are so slow growing.
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Post  drgonzo Sun Jan 29, 2012 4:14 pm

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