Sometimes during repotting, I feel like I’ve passed a point of no return. The feeling struck when I was working on a black pine this past winter. After combing out the roots – there’s no going back The pine – see Friday’s “Cleaning up a black pine” for a look at the tree today – is […]
Search Results for: soil
Tamping the soil into place
After wiring a bonsai into the pot and filling the pot with soil, I’ll usually give the whole a few gentle taps to make sure I did a good job with the chopsticks. A few gentle taps can quickly reveal faulty chopstick work as the soil will quickly settle in neglected areas. I usually tap […]
Finding the right soil mix
Finding the right soil mixes for my trees has proved surprisingly tricky – and not for lack of trying. I’ve experimented broadly over the years, and have benefitted from the advice of both American and Japanese bonsai professionals. Still, I find room for improvement. In the past few years, I’ve moved to mixes that retain […]
Drying bonsai soil
To date, my summer has been filled with some traditional, and some not-so-traditional, activities. I went canoeing last weekend on the Russian River. When I got home, I set about drying some dirt. Watching summer days shorten has become a cue for me to begin preparing bonsai soil. I wash the dirtiest soils and dry and sift […]
Bonsai soil
I’ve been spending my free moments sifting bonsai soil for the past few weeks – a bag here, a bag there. I know that I have a lot of trees to repot this winter and I don’t like to start the soil-making process from scratch when I’m ready to repot, so I’m getting started while […]