Reddit reviews Hoffman 10708 Bonsai Soil Mix, 2 Quarts, Brown/A

Unfortunately, most store bought bonsai soil in the US is not good for growing bonsai.

There are some good options online example 1 and example 2 but after shipping it gets a little expensive.

The cheapest option is to buy bonsai components from local sources and mix it yourself but that requires a bit of research and experimentation.

Good bonsai soil has 4 properties: hold water, allow air to reach the roots, hold and release fertilizers, and give roots something to grow around/into (a component that breaks down over time is very helpful for this last part).

If you want to get more in depth, there's a great video by bonsai mirai, blog posts by Adam Lavigne, and 3 part article by Colin Lewis

If you want to keep it simpler, try one of the tried, tested, and widely used basic mixes like my two favorites. 2:1:1 of turface:pine bark:chicken grit (AKA Al's gritty mix) 1:1:1 akadama:pumice:lava rock (AKA Boone's mix) (which I'm currently testing with Napa Oil Dry (part 8822) as a substitute for the akadama)

And perhaps the simplest and cheapest option of all is to join a local bonsai club and ask if any of the senior members sell pre mixed bonsai soil.

oh god. If this was another screw up, I'm going to be pretty distraught.

I bought Hoffman Bonsai Soil Mix off amazon. The link is:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00147Z8S2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I need some help with this one and I am really nervous. I had to cold stratify these seeds for 6 months and then got about 30% (3/10) to grow. They sprung up in April and have not grown any more leaves since, but they seem to have developed more roots and thickened up a bit (though they are very slow to do so). I have no real experience, am a complete novice, and really need some expert opinion.

The leaves are browning/scorched looking starting form their tips... some are around 50% dead now, they are indoors in a south and east facing window. It has been hot out, but I water them nightly and they are in this soil in this pot.

Yea my trees are either in Boons mix or this Hoffman's bonsai soil just because i can get it locally. It's not terrible, but I'm glad to finally have a sizable stock of Boons mix now. I highly prefer it!

come to think of it, maybe the soil is too rich, and didnt dry out properly. i dont have any perlite on hand, but i do have bonsai soil. Can i mix in some of it?

https://www.amazon.com/Hoffman-10708-Bonsai-Soil-Quarts/dp/B00147Z8S2/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1497977118&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=bonsai+soil+huff

Interesting...so would mixing lava rock with some organic soil work based on that link? Perhaps mixing this lava rock with this pre-made mixture?

I bought this tree about 2 months ago in a fairly large pot, but no holes for drainage and the soil was pretty mediocre. It was too cold outside (STL) to just let it be outside, so I had it indoors near a window, and watered it regularly. I noticed at one point it was no longer actually taking up the water, and instead the soul was far too soaked. With no way to drain the pot, I went and got the pictured pot (with a hole), and repotted about 2-3 weeks ago. I have some mesh in the bottom so the soil isn’t falling out, but this is what I replaced the soil in the pot with. The original soil had a LOT of mulch chunks. When repotting, I got all the loose soil and almost all of the mulch out. There were a few hat were too entangled into the roots and I didn’t want to damage them.

Since it’s been repotted, it’s been really wet here, like reined all last week, but was mostly in the 40s. I thought it would need sun, and that’s why I had it outdoors. I’ve had it under a awning on my front porch to prevent most of the rain from getting to it, but let it get rained on for one day.

What is happening to the tree here? What can I do to save it? During repotting, I noticed a lot of the roots were turning a reddish color.