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Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56402

  • wojt333
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Hi all,

A few weeks ago I've bought a cheap, mass produced Ulmus Parviflora/Chinese Elm.
This is my first "bonsai" and my main goal is keeping it alive.

The issue I have is, when watering, some of the soil spills out of the pot. (from the top side)
I have made soil layer ascending towards the trunk, however by watering this ascending layer just flushes away.
I don't want to water it from to high, because i'm afraid of black spot.
But also when watering just the soil, big parts of it flush away.

I have re-potted the plant in a bonsai soil mix.

Is this normal? Is there some measures is should take for this?

Kind regards,

wojt333

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Last edit: Post by wojt333.

Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56407

  • persimmon
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Yes, this is quite normal. Soil will flush away until it is at the level of the edges of your pot. This is caused by gravity.

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Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56408

  • wojt333
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Thank you for your physics for dummies lesson.

Let me rephrase my question: how do I keep an ascending layer of soil, if the top layer is flushed away every time I water?
Do I add new soil? add moss? add a top layer of gravel? Do i need a finer watering tool?

If i keep going like this, the soil will be flat over the entire pot, at the level of the pot's edge.

kind regards,

wojt333

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Last edit: Post by wojt333.

Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56410

  • Clicio
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Some people use moss to hold it in place; others a porous horticultural cloth or net.
I prefer having the soil flush from the beginning.
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Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56414

  • Josephine_L
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Avoid repotting, it's not good to move the plant around too often. And regarding the issue you posted for, don't worry, nothing's actually wrong.
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Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56415

  • Bunsen33
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If you would like to keep the mounded soil look (or need to because your roots are taller than you pot is deep) and having a hard time finding and maintaining moss - use a gentler method of watering. Options include a spray bottle (like for household cleaners, inexpensive, may take many sprays to saturate soil and get drainage) or a squirt bottle (search for "chemical squirt bottle" in Amazon for an example of what I use, a condiment squirt bottle might work but might hard to control flow).
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Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56416

  • wojt333
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Thanks for all the replies.

I'll give that a try!

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Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56417

  • m5eaygeoff
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A can with a rose is all that is needed. If it was re potted properly it would not be a problem, moss on the surface would help.
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Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56418

  • Rorror
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Muck is a solution to your problem. Google (bonsai muck)

Here is a simple video that show how to use muck.
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Soil flushes away when watering - (First bonsai) 4 years 1 month ago #56482

  • Vali
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I use sphagnum moss. Placed all over the top of the substrate it keeps everything in place. Nothing moves beneath it
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