For woody plants that might go 2-3 years between repots, a gritty mix of pine or fir bark, Turface or equal, and crushed granite or equal, all mixed together in equal proportions by volume is a very good choice. For more info, search this forum using the words gritty mix or go to the thread where there is a current discussion.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Click me & we're off to the thread ...

So, I don't have to use any actual "soil" such as potting soil from like Miracle Gro?

That is correct.

Al

And that mixture also gives them lots of water, and nutrients?

No .... as is typical in container culture, providing a favorable amount of water and nutrients is up to you. The soil is simply durable and, because of it's more than adequate aeration over the long term, helps minimize the mistakes and problems so often associated with watering.

Al

And that mixture also gives them lots of water, and nutrients

Of course it doesn't. You as the grower provide what is needed. You give water and nutrients on a timely basis. No potting mixture on this planet provides water and nutrients to plants, only human caretakers do.

Some mixtures will require you as the caretaker to provide those essentials such as water and nutrients more or less frequently, but the rule of thumb is that the less often the mixture requires you to provide them the less well the plants do and the more often the mixture requires your input the better your plants do.

Grossly oversimplified? Yes.

The moral is that you as a grower have to decide what your reasonable limits are for providing for your plants. If you can water daily you can use a less water retentive mix that offers better aeration than your plants would survive with if you could only water every 3 days. If you can only water once per week then you have to compromise further.

This really isn't a big deal though.

Step 1 is to learn what optimally serves the interests of the plants you wish to grow.

Step 2 is to recognize your own limtis.

Step 3 is to design a solution that best serves the needs of your plants while recognizing and respecting the limits on your time/ambition.

I have been told to put in sphagnum peat moss to retain water. I am guessing I probably shouldn't? What I mean is, does this soil provide the tree with organics like it needs? And is it acidic enough for redwoods, as they like acidic soils?

As we noted, you don't depend on the soil for nutrition, and your tree doesn't need 'organics'. It will grow just fine in a soil that has a 0% organic component (though it can still be made from naturally occurring materials). Yes - either soil will be acidic enough, unless you use too much dolomitic lime when you make it.

Your questions seem to indicate that you would do well to get a better feel for what the role of soil is and how to tell the difference between good and inadequate soils. If you come to understand the link I'm leaving, it will have answered most of your questions.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: More reading

Since my coast is in a potting soil that is meant for starting seeds, it has a pretty good rootball. Now, to put it in this new soil, should I take away the old seed starter soil and just have the roots?

HOW you treat the tree depends on where you live, which you don't tell us in your user info, what time of year it is (where the tree is in its growth cycle), and a reasonable guess about what the tree's energy reserves are.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Lots of info here

No, what I mean is, can I take the soil off the roots and bare-root plant it?

I understood your question, and I tried to explain there's more to the answer than a yes or no. If you have to have an answer w/o providing the necessary info, I'd have consider the probabilities which lead me to guess "NO" for now - "YES" if you do it in early spring. You really need to do a little more homework.

Al

Ok, so today I got stuff called Pond Care. It looks like schultz aquatic soil and others. Should I sift it through a sifter, or are the smaller granules alright to use?
If I put that, bark chips, and perlite and mix it in with SOME sphagnum peat moss to retain water on hot days, would this be good?

Why would you think that a product formulated for ponds and aquatic plants would be suitable for adding to a potting soil for a land-dwelling tree? The pond care product is essentially a form of sand - silica crystalline quartz - with a few other odds and ends thrown in for good measure, like the zeolite, which is typically used as a filtering mechanism. It will likely add nothing of value to your potting mix and could possibly be harmful.

Follow the guidelines on mixing a soil as Al has outlined. Search out the Turface or add a similar quantity of high-fired, clay based kitty litter. I would not add the moss - it is hard to incorporate well into a soil mix and uniform distribution of all the particles is essential. Peat would be better but is also not necessary. The bark fines will provide sufficient moisture retention but how well they do so depends also on growing conditions - hot, sunny weather will dry out any potting mix faster than cool, damp winter conditions so pay attention to this factor. And if this container is being kept indoors over the winter, which your post somehow implies, it needs to be in the coolest place you can store it - temperatures around 40-45F would be ideal. Light conditions are not nearly as important as providing a suitable temperature for vernalization - coast redwoods are not houseplants. Obviously, watering and fertilization are not huge concerns in winter.....just don't let the potting medium dry out completely.

Well the pond soil is pretty much turface. I checked. It looks like the same exact thing. It provides aeration for the plant. And besides, coast redwoods love water anyway.

I'm usually extremely patient with all the questions and replies from even the newest newbies, but look - Pam gave you good advise; and you've revealed through the nature of your questions that the base of knowledge you're operating from is not broad or extensive enough to dispute it, or even mount a legitimate argument against it. Perhaps I'm misreading things, but it appears to me that you'd like to be spoon-fed your answers, and if they aren't what you wanted to hear, you'd rather stay the very course you question than change it.

I stopped offering advice simply because it quickly became apparent you weren't paying much heed to it anyway. If you had armed yourself with some of the knowledge offered by following the links, you would at least be able to frame your questions in such a way that they would lead to usable answers, and you would also be cognizant of some of the reasoning set Pam and others used to formulate their advice.

"...the pond soil is pretty much Turface. I checked."

Ok - I checked too. So how does it compare in physical size to Turface? Is it as porous overall? What % of the product is sand?

"It looks like the same exact thing."

How can it when the PRIMARY ingredient is sand?

"It provides aeration for the plant."

Whether or not it provides aeration depends on what volume it's used in - what % of the total volume it comprises - and what the size of the other particulates are. IOW - you cannot make this blanket statement.

"And besides, coast redwoods love water anyway."

So do Labrador retrievers. If you're so sure they'll (redwoods) love the water so much, then any old soil will suit them fine - garden soil holds tons of water .... The FACT is, they don't love water. Like almost all trees, they require good aeration for their vitality, which is not always easy to supply in container culture, which leads us full circle to the concept that all three of the experienced growers expanded upon at one point or another.

Good luck.

Al

Oh sorry. I have not really been paying attention too much. I know its good advice and I appreciate it, I am just a noob. You can be as impatient as you want, I understand. I just need to read what good advice you have been giving. I sorry.

Ok - apology accepted, and I'm sorry too, for being harsh on a new forum member. If you will take the time to read & understand the info I left in the links, by the time you're finished, the light will come on & you'll have gained a much better understanding of soils - I guarantee it. Armed with that knowledge, you'll not have to ask most of the questions you're asking now, and you'll be able to put together the questions that will help complete your understanding.

Acquiring growing skills is much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. As newbies, we all stumble around in the dark for awhile until we finally get the outside border assembled, and we can help you with that - it's what I was trying to do for you via the links I left. This outside border consists of some basic knowledge, that once acquired allows us to turn the corner that enables us to keep our plants alive, but not necessarily flourishing. Many people get stuck, right there. The good news is, once we get that border completed, the rest of the knowledge comes faster and makes more sense, because it's all connected in one way or another with that basic knowledge we started with, and we're just building/expanding on that. It does take some effort to fill in the middle of the puzzle, but if you're willing to try, I'm sure you'll find help here.

Al

Well, I wouldnt say I'm too new, I've been here a while, lol. But, I have read your thread and noticed people talking about Aged Pine bark. Must the pine bark be aged?

Oh, and sorry to you too gardengal48, good advice you gave, I was just too stubborn to accept it. I was hoping it was the same stuff, I heard it was. I am sooooo wrong. I thought it looked like sand. My local nursery even said it was the right stuff for bonsai! That is why I may have pushed away both of you two's advice. My bad, dang nursery and their unprofessional staff that don't know much about bonsai. I hope I can take back the bag, as I have opened it because the nursery said it was right, but its wrong. Darn......thanks for your help.

ONe of my final noobish questions....promise. Does this turface look right? I found it on eBay and it says its MVP, but I thought MVP was screened....Am I mistaken? This doesn't look very screened. Oh, btw I am talking about the second one on the page that says Turface MVP Bonsai Soil Additive/Calcined Clay..If thats not right, do the others saound good?

Thanks again! That should be all.....

Here is a link that might be useful: Click Me Please!!

Don't be so hasty in your want to return it. The point I was making is that there wasn't enough information between us to determine whether the "Pond Care" product's physical properties closely matched those of Turface. If the size of the particles is appropriate, it should still be usable as a soil component - but maybe not as a substitute for Turface.

The product shown in the eBay link is MVP. Judging by the pics, but after only a cursory glance, it all looks like MVP. You still don't tell us where you live, so it's difficult to determine whether screening is likely to be a benefit. The size of the other particulates and the size of the container vs. plant mass also plays into that decision. I would tend to tell you to forget the screening for now & employ a wick through the drain hole to act as a safety valve in case the soil wants to hold a little too much water.

You should be able to find Turface in 50 lb bags for Al