Container Soil Mix???

I keep a lot of my small trees in pots but have never really known what is the best soil mix for them. I pretty much use "Black Forest" soil conditioner straight or sometimes with a little regular potting soil. I am probably sinning but have had great luck so far. I mostly have Ginkgo's but I have some conifers and some deciduous plants also. Tell me what you think....

I think it totally depends upon how long you intend to keep them in the pots. Short term, any peat-based potting soil would work. That's what I use if I intend to pot up or plant out. Long term, say over a year, and the peat will break down, compact, and you might have trouble. For the long term, a mix with large particle size and perhaps non-organic components might be preferred. Here is my mix: 3-4 parts pine bark, 1 part perlite, 1 part peat, plus Osmocote/Micromax/dolomite additives. Sometimes I substitute CHC for pine bark or adjust the dolomite depending upon the water needs and pH needs of the plant.

This is a great thread by Tapla: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/527353/

Wow, thanks so much. Pretty technical stuff on that thread.

Without reading the link, for long term planting I love coir. I use it for my cacti and started using it for some japanese maples that I intend to keep in pots. It keeps the mix very light and the cacti roots seem to love it. I had problems with peat based mixes and cacti due to re-hydration issues after winter dormancy.

Bill

As far as I'm concerned, Tapla is the master on container mix. I've followed his advice now for a few years with excellent results.

Equil, thx, but I've got several yellowwoods of my own. If you ever come across seeds of the pink-flowering yellowwood, consider my hand raised.

Scott

Next year should be THE year for my Pink Cladrastis to flower Scott. Two years ago, it had tons of buds, but they got the big freeze. Nothing this year. So if the every-other-year theory holds, I should have you some seed in 2007.

Sorry for the threadjacking, but both of my pink yellowwoods flower every year. I never thought to collect seed, but I will next year.

Whoa!!! Two DG buddies with pink yellowwood seed! I'm happy. So happy. Very, very happy!

Scott

Scott,
My 'Perkin's Pink' yellowwood flowered this year and the tree is full of seed. The nearest yellowwood is miles away, so these seeds are selfed. I will go out and take some pods off of the tree to make sure there are seeds inside the pods. I will be more than happy to send you some seed, if there are seeds in the pods. This will also get me off of dead-center to send Guy the CD of pics from last January.

I'll send you a D-mail tomorrow or Wednesday.
Mike

Thanks!

Scott