Identification of medium formula of soilless cultivation for bonsai Buxus sinica.

Soilless culture of Buxus sinica provides a main approach of improving bonsai export. This experiment selected B. sinica as the test material. Vermiculite, peat, ceramsite and Zhu’s nutrient solution were used as substrate materials to study the soilless culture of B. sinica so as to find the best medium formula. The effects of different growing matrices on growth rate, chlorophyll content, root activity and mineral element content of B. sinica were compared. The results show that M6 (V(vermiculite)∶V(ceramsite)∶V(peat) is 2∶3∶1, 100% concentration of Zhu’s nutrient solution) is the best substrate recipe and M8 (V (vermiculite)∶V(ceramsite)∶V (peat) is 3∶2∶1, 150% concentration of Zhu’s nutrient solution) can also be used in the soilless culture of B. sinica.