名媛直播

I am hoping for some advice on what causes my soil to hold water. Immediately after watering, the water sits on top of the soil layer, and as soon as I break up the top layer with a chopstick or my finger it goes through normal. the mixture is 30% organic, the rest is industrial sand and fullers earth. This video is a short display of my mixture.

Fullers earth and sand is the problem. iether will allow good drainage. Sounds as if you have just re potted I would do it again and use some decent compost

not getting a video...anyway ive encountered this problem with moss covered soil but not just soil. water does run off some of my tree's soil if not misted first. seeing it will flow once the soil is disturbed means the soil is good draining. try misting before watering and see if that helps. water has high surface tension on dry soil,putting a little moisture on the soil surface first helps

I always water twice, I go around once then I go around them again. Having moss on the surface will not stop the water draining through. It is the soil that is the problem, fullers earth is not going to drain, and sand also will clog.

oneday21 is not saying that the water isnt draining. it is staying on top of the soil until the surface is disturbed then it drains normaly.

There are 2 things happening:

- You have a soil that is not porous enough (The soil is too dense). Especiallly for bonsai that is a bad thing; Fopr bonsai you want open soil, with no sand. Finests particles should be one mm or larger.
- The soil is too dry, which makes it 'wat resistent'. Watering with luke-warm water should solve this. Warmer water has a different surface tension, and will bind with the soil more easily than cold water.

Exactly

MOTT and LB You hit right on the head about surface tension. I will try the warm water idea, and I failed the one mm test.

I would disagree with using warm water, unless it's at or below 70 degrees F. Anything above that, and you are asking for root shock, and root problems. High temperature waters promote not only shock, but root Pythium and harmful pathogens.

Holding water for a short time is not a problem. Staying on the surface is. It suggests that next spring the tree needs re potting, it is fine right now, but mark it down for re potting. Warm water is a novel idea, I won't be using it that's for certain.