Greetings;

I am trying to find out what would be better for the Hawaiian umbrella plant- The Bonsai Professional Soil which also has pine bark in it or the regular Bonsai soil without the pine bark.



thank you for you time. Would appreciate advice on this.

Carol

Hawaian umbrella needs a slightly acidic soil. Some or no pine bark will most likelly make no difference In the short run. In my experience it is more important to adapt soil mix to care scedule and climate than to species.

Shortly put, what works for you is the best, not what works best for someone else.

For schefflera it is recommended to use a substrate with higher organic content than you normally would.

Would that be the Bonsai soil with the pine bark?

Yes, pine bark is organic. But there may be other organic elements in your two prefered options as well.

Hi Carol,

it is difficult to assess what sort of substrates you have access to. So what your local store calls "the professional substrate", does not have any meaning to me.
Look for well-draining / coarse bonsai substrate, with a higher organic component.