What soil is suitable for pine bonsai? Detailed soil mixing methods
Pine bonsai often display a masculine beauty, and wherever they are, people are often struck by their captivating charm; at the same time, bonsai pines can also give people a sense of optimism and upward motivation in adversity, so an excellent pine bonsai work often has extremely high artistic ornamental value.
The pine is a sun-loving tree species. It not only has strong drought tolerance but is also very tolerant of poor soil, though it is usually grown in soil with relatively good permeability paired with a shallow purple clay pot. So what soil is more suitable for growing pine bonsai? Since pines like potting soil with sufficiently good air and water permeability, we need to reasonably prepare the soil for them according to this standard.
The soil of a pine bonsai not only stabilizes the plant and provides water and nutrients, but can also supply some oxygen for its roots to breathe. The soil used should above all be fertile and loose, air- and water-permeable, and able to retain water and fertilizer, and pines are also relatively suited to growing in an acidic loam environment with a pH value between 5 and 6. Once we understand these characteristics of pines, we know what soil pines like.
To prepare a soil environment that pines like, you can usually go to the wild and collect some shallow soil and pine needles from under pine trees, then mix in leaf mold, sand and so on. Of course, it is even better if you can add some decomposed organic fertilizer when potting. After potting is complete, you can cover the surface of the potting soil with a layer of fresh moss, which both retains moisture and looks attractive.
If the potting soil used for growing pines easily becomes compacted and is relatively poor, then the plant is prone to illness. In particular, when the drainage effect inside the pot is relatively poor, a too-deep pot is used, and the plant is planted too deep, the probability of infection by pathogens increases greatly. This is mainly caused by excessive watering leading to serious water accumulation in the pot, or by excessively high potting soil humidity. So in the process of care and management, we also need to do the following:
Once soil compaction occurs, promptly loosen the potting soil, and at the same time add some decomposed organic fertilizer, such as poultry manure, and you can also add ferrous sulfate and urea for mixed use, and the planting depth should be appropriate, then water thoroughly once. This can achieve the effect of making the soil fertile and loose while also helping to increase the plant's resistance and reduce the probability of infection by pathogens.