Mix advice (first post)

[rav_johnson]

Good morning all,

i have long been fascinated with bonsai and took the plunge about 6 months ago buying all sorts
of $8 bonsai starters from bunnings and several nursery stock plants.
so far i have:
several Junipers
chinese elm
PJ fig
Japanese and trident maple
Jade (small leaved)
Olive
Cotoneaster
Buxus
and even dug up some leopard tree seedlings which i thought would make wicked bonsai.

I have been reading constantly about everything haha (im a research-aholic) and have only just joined this site, because i actually find the advice on here
better than i have found on google sites (mostly american)
So at the moment i have them all in nursery pots in Searles Bonsai potting mix. and I am using seasol and powerfeed. (getting some osmocote soon?)
I just wanted to ask if anyone thinks i should add some peat moss and/or perlite to the mix as i have bags of them already.
Or If anyone wants to share some other advice to help me thicken the trunks, or general knowledge.
Thanks in advance

[Damian Bee]

Personally I would spread the peat moss over the garden or keep it for propagation purposes only, I find peat moss to be not so hot in Bonsai growing mediums. The Perlite though is great, I have been adding it at around 10% volume to my mix for the past 2 years with good results also Zeolite at 5% volume. Seasol and powerfeed are great products, spray onto foliage in the afternoon to get best results, you will use less too. The Osmocote is a good fert to put on over the dormant period (although, is there such a thing in Qld?).
If the stock you have is starter stock, I reckon you should put them into well prepared garden beds, 50cm pots or into polystyrene boxes which you can usually get from either the local grocer or seafood shop. The larger the volume of soil the better for now to fatten them up. Some basic wiring, pinching and pruning can be done while the stock is growing on to get your trees heading in the right direction.

Looks like you have yourself a nice little collection there Rav. Enjoy

[Paulneill]

Avoid bunnings like the plage . Find a good bonsai nursery . Check out the bonsai 4 me web site if you havent already it's by far the best web site I have seen . And look at the gallery section were u can see bonsai being created in the various stages in progression series . u will learn a lot from the various progression series .

[Bougy Fan]

Hi Rav and welcome. The best thing you can do is join a bonsai club. In Brisbane the southside is covered by the Bonsai Society and Bimer is on the northside. If you join a club you have access to loads of experience, library, club sales table and access to stock from other members. At Bimer we regularly have demos from local, interstate and occasionally overseas artists. While it is good to look at something on the internet nothing beats observing first hand. Hope you have a very understanding other half and a big yard


Tony

[rav_johnson]

Thanks for all the advice, i went and got some osmocote today and repotted my two chinese elms with some perlite added to my potting mix.
Not too sure about plant growing in dormant period here as this is my first attempt of doing anything with a green thumb. im only 22
so far i have put all the starter stock into 15ish cm pots? but in the near future i could get some polystyrene boxes

which leads to another question. does pinching and pruning stunt trunk growth?

haha yeah i heard to avoid bunnings but i saw all the plant types i wanted for cheap so i just went for it.
and i thought since its a time consuming hobby, i might as well get a lot straight away
i live on the southside so ill have to look bonsai society up sometime soon, and the progression series sounds helpul too.