hi i'm asking if you know the best soil to repot a chinese elm, i live in britain, so some companies might not be reachable.

There is not really such a thing as best period. It depends on how much time you have to devote to Bonsai. How often can you water, daily, weekly? How often do you want to fertilize? If you can only water once or twice a week that makes a huge difference than someone that can water daily.

The time to re pot is spring. That is anytime from now until end of March.
Watering must be done as needed, not to a schedule. So you must check every day, and water when needed. In the summer you will be watering almost every day, in to winter possibly not for 6 weeks.
Akadama is what I use, there is no best. it is what you find works best for you. Use John Innes 3 with extra grit. If you ask 10 bonsai growers they will tell you 10 different soils. As I said before, the Chinese Elm usually holds leaves until the new ones are breaking.
Geoff.

I water to a schedule, In fact I water at the same time every day during the growing season and in winter about every 3 days. The reason I am able to do that is because I use a substrate, not soil. Thats why knowing how much time you have to devote to your hobby determines what kind of substrate or soil to use. If you can only water once a week then some kind of soil mix will be needed to hold more moisture. In a soil situation you can easily water too much and kill a tree. In a substrate situation it is impossible to over water unless you sat there with a hose all day, because it is primarily comprised of clay and clay only retains what it needs and the rest washes away. Clay pebbles also create a nice loom that causes air pockets. Root rot needs to have a lack of oxygen in order to take place. If there is plenty of oxygen then no root rot can exist. In a clay pebble substrate you are more likely to under water a tree, than over water. So to say that you can't water to a schedule is a fallacy. Some of the best Bonsai masters in the world water to a schedule because if they even missed one day of watering in the growing season, they would loose trees to dehydration.

Watering to a schedule is not necessary with a normal soil. Akadama is a dried clay "substrate". Watering is done as the trees need it not to a schedule. Therefore if that means every day that is what is needed. All soils are substrates, just different. It is not possible to overwater, just watering too often. During the summer I water every day, that is because it is needed not because it is a schedule. During the winter I water when needed, Until this week I have not had to water any trees for more than 6 weeks, that was because they did not need it. If I had watered every 3 days I would have killed them. Just because watering is done every day does not mean it is a schedule.

thanks guys, i will try a mik of 1/4 grit, 1/4 loam and 1/2 akadama.

If you want to know, what is the best soil for bonsai of any kind, read this. Very detailed.

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070427170744AAiIyHn

Thanks, it's a good reference website

Bob if you are anyway near it is Swindon this Sunday. You will love it, missed last year, but I will be there this year.
Geoff.

This year I am using Tesco Low Dust Lightweight cat litter with some added pine bark, a lot of folk seem to be doing well with it