Hi Ache,

I tend to play around with my potting mixes, but the basics are potting soil from Bushel Stop, pine bark chips, coconut husk chips and those clay balls that orchid folks use a lot. I like my potting mixes to drain rapidly, even though it means more hand watering for me.

For Blueberries I use coarse peat moss and pine bark. I want "chunky" soil, not fine mixtures that pack down.

When I don't have coconut husk chips on hand, I use bagged Orchid mixes added to standard potting soil.

I usually have to add soil every year or so, and sometimes root prune the trees.

I've not had much luck using plain old potting soil. It seems to break down too quickly and ends up too wet.

Lisa

Do you remove the tree from it's pot , root prune and then start over with all new soil ?
I'm imagining all the work involved ! Whew !

Naaah, I pull the tree up and out, dump out any soggy stuff if any, add fresh soil to the bottom of the pot, knock off a bit of old soil from the sides of the root ball, trim any unruly or unhealthy roots, set back in the pot and fill in around the sides with new soil. Most of my pots are tapered, narrower at the bottom, wider at the top. So when I raise the plant up, there are spots to fill with new soil.
I like a thick layer of pine bark on top, but the chickens usually kick it all away in no time.

I'm far too lazy to replace all the soil!

Some trees are too big to lift. Those I lay on their sides to remove from the pots.

Lisa