Hi all,

I am growing bonsai, and the bonsai community is going nuts for Tesco premium lightweight cat litter for a growing medium (it is gritty and doesn't break down into sludge when wet) From what I have read it works really well, and I will be using it for my bonsai in the near future.

Would it do well with citrus? It is popular in bonsai because it does not break down, it drains super quick but holds moisture and it is easy to tell when watering is needed again. I was going to try mixing 4 parts of this material with 1 part citrus compost. Any thoughts, good or bad?

Cheers

The only comment I would make is that Tesco premium lightweight cat litter is made out of recycled news paper. Therefore, being paper, I would think the life of the product would be quite short, unless the product is treated with some sort of miracle binder. - Millet

There are other versions of Tesco cat litter based on clay.
This bonsai website gives full details, including US equivalent products:
http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basicscatlitter.htm
Sounds interesting - I think I'll give it a try!
Mike aka Citrange

Citrange thanks for the link. When I Goggled "Tesco Premium Cat Liter" the link came up as the recycled paper product. Unusual that they use the same name for both products. However, the link you provided is quite informative. It seems to show that the Tesco product delivers most of the required properties needed for a good citrus medium. In the past I have thought about diatomaceous earth but never got around to trying it. In the US many chemical supply houses sell diatomaceous earth in 100-lbs. bags, for absorbing oil and grease spills. I'll give it a try on some of my smaller trees. Also thanks to aessr 22 for the tip. - Millet

Thats ok i think I will be trying it myself in the spring when the days are a little longer! Good old Tesco, the supply everything over here

Oh very good. I've been wanting to experiment with inorganic medias for a while now and this sounds like a good place to start. Thanks much!

.....Alan.

It seems we don't have as many NAPA stores around here as once we did, but I was able to pick up a couple of bags of the oil-dri mentioned at the link above.



The very stuff in the picture. I have some trifoliata to repot tomorrow so I'll give it a try then with a few of them. For a test run I'm thinking a fifty:fifty mixture of my usual 4:1 chc/ground coir and the fired DE product.

.....Alan.

I think in the States, the kitty litter we use from Tesco's is the same as turface, and have heard lots of people mention 'Oil-dry'

A friend bought me a really nice calamondin for Christmas (with the usual awful potting mix). I am going to repot it in the morning...should the tree be bare-rooted? I am going to put it in a mix of 3 parts kitty litter, one part citrus compost. I would be interested to try all kitty litter, but I don't have the chance to water as often as it would require, so am going to throw some organics in the mix

If the tree does need to be bare-rooted, what is the best way to put it back in the pot? Hold it and slowly add soil so the roots cover a wide area, or just pop it down and let the roots sit on top of one another and pour soil on?

Thanks for any advice

For myself anyway I prefer to wash out as much of the old media out of the rootball as I can while doing as little root damage as possible. I did have one tree that was so rootbound that I could not get half of what media was left inside washed out so elected to leave it rather than do more damage than I already did. It quickly put out new leaves and blossoms so it seems to have been alright.

.....Alan.