Bonsaify | Soil Test Results for Young Japanese Black Pine

One of the most common questions our viewers ask is, "What kind of soil do you use to grow your trees?" In this video, Eric answers that question and shares the very clear results from his first large scale soil test on about 500 two-year-old Japanese Black Pines.

Eric shares the results from three different categories of two-year-old trees. They have all been in 6" pond baskets for nearly a year. The only difference is the soil mix used.

Each result below is representative of a larger sample of trees in the same soil configuration.

3:09 Result 1: smallest with short needles and a modestly sized bud. 80% / 20% mix of perlite and coco coir, with pumice added at the bottom of the basket. The pumice became pasty. The perlite was likely too fine in this container, and the tree may have been affected by root aphids.

5:02 Result 2: taller but with very short, light green needles. Sifted and washed pumice with coarse pine bark. Eric will not be using this mix again because it doesn't seem to retain enough nutrients.

5:50 Result 3: Most vigorous growth and strongest tree with very strong apical bud, strong side and lower buds. This is the ideal mix going forward for young black pine under our nursery conditions: Coco coir or other organic material like peat moss; medium size coarse perlite with some texture variation (sift out the fine dust). There was also a small amount of washed pumice at the bottom of this basket.

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