Do you need to go pick it up, or will could you order by mail? Several outlets online will sell by mail, and even some listings for bonsai soil on Ebay.
Big boxes like Walmart won't be alot of help, but a garden center or nursery should be able to special order for you.
How close are you to Pittsburgh? The bonsai club there used to have an online page that lsited area bonsai suppliers, but it seems to be a dead page now.

I live about 45 minutes from Pittsburgh. I dont mind getting items by mail, I just hate ordering over the Internet. Any place that offers good soil and I can call in my order, or get a magazine or order form with a number would be much preferred.

Most, if not all, of the reputable dealers found on the internet have a phone number for questions or ordering somewhere on their site. If its not on their home page somewhere (usually at the top with the logo), then look for a link to their "contact" page.

I've done quite a bit of business on ebay, taking care to only deal with sellers with a positive feedback score of 98% or above. So far, I have only been burned once. If you dont like using a credit card online, many of the ebay sellers will accept check or MO.

The real downside to ordering anything, but especially something like a package of soil, is the shipping cost. But, if you live in an area like I do, its just something you have to deal with if you dont want to make your own bonsai soil. I only know of 1 bonsai nursery within 100 miles. So I made the trip up there, asked for bonsai soil, and the guy looked at me like I was on crack. He said he uses miracle grow potting soil. I haven't been back.

What nursery is that, and how long have they been around?
More to the point, how long are their plants around?
To be really fair, if someone took the time to water the plant correctly, you can grow bonsai in Miracle Gro potting soil. Takes some care and observation, but could be done.
Mixing up your own soil is relativley easy and you don't have to be any where near a specialized bonsai nursery. Pine bark mulch, swimming pool filter sand and Turface or similar stuff is easy to get at most suburban retailers. The stuff doesnt spoil and keeps for ever until needed, so in the long run the twenty bucks you woul dspend on ingedients will go lots further and be better spent than twenty bucks to ship a much smaller quantity of prepackaged bonsai soil to you from somewhere else.

I also like to mix my own soil. The generic recipe I keep coming across is 1 part composted pine bark, 1 part "grit", and 1 part peat or hummus. But I have had trouble figuring out what a good sized cheap "grit" component would be. I had not thought about filter sand.Thank you for the idea Mark I will look into that.
Something I was looking into was crushing up old broken terra cotta pots into small enough particles and then filtering out the dust. Has anyone tried this? Does this sound like a good or bad idea?
Turtle

Crushed terra cotta is a very bad idea for a number of reasons. First, and most importantly, terra cotta is earthenware basically and not high fired enough to withstand frost. It will turn to mush if it's used in an outdoor situation where freezing and thawing occurs. Terra cotta pots left out in the winter deteriorate rather quickly with freeze/thaw cycles.

Secondly, you're going to crush quite a few pots to get any appreciable amount of the stuff.

Thirdly, you're going to get a wide variety of sizes of granules. That can be a bad thing if there is alot of variation in the particle sizes...

Fourthly, ever priced terra cotta pots? They aren't cheap.You could probably resell, or reuse old ones, as opposed to smashing them into little tiny bits.

A simpler, less expensive alternative is the crushed brick mulch (smallest grade) sold at Home Depot. Brick is extremely high fired clay, that won't break down. It's cheap too.

I had been using already broken pots, but thank you for that insight I will cease and look into brick mulch as you suggest.
Turtle

I've been using #3 pool filter sand but only for a short while so I have no long time experience but it seems to be working. 2 parts pool sand - 1 part miracle gro - 2 parts humus.

Any rural area should have chicken grit. Here, it's crushed and sized granite or quartz. It costs about $8.00 for a 50# bag. Add to that whatever bark mulch is available in your area and you have a good basic start. (sift all the fines out of the bark, or it will hold way to much water)
No potting soil. No humus. These make it more difficult, not easier, to grow and maintain trees in small pots.
zube

Turtlebo, I see you live in northern Florida. When I asked for chicken grit after I moved here from Indiana, all they had to offer was crushed sea shells. Not Good.
Occasionally, I'll ask a visiting relative from the north to pick up a bag of granite grit as Zube mentioned. I much prefer it to pool filter sand.

Clay

You have to be careful of what soil you use... it dramatically effects the health of the roots and the whole tree. roots like porous fast drainning soil... it makes it easier for the roots to grow... when using peat moss as the main ingredient... it retains so much water.. that will not allow the roots to grow in search for water.
as far as what ingredients to use... there are as many mixtures as there are enthusiasts.... everyone has a preferance... depending on the climate, how often you water, type of trees... and so on..
Bass

When you say pine bark mulch. Do you use the regular mulch that is used as a top dressing in the garden? The pieces seem too large. Could you explain? Thanks.

Donna, the bark I use (which is hemlock or fir where I live) has some large pieces, which are screened out. And then all the fine material needs to be screened out also. I suppose every different area across the country will have different products available, some more suitable, and some less. I wouldn't buy anything that is all big pieces. The material that I use is just shredded bark. I screen out maybe 10% that is too big. That goes pretty quickly. Then perhaps 25% is too fine. Screening that takes quite a lot longer. But I only have to do it every two years or so.
Good luck,
zube

Donna... Zube is right west coast mulch is different that what you find here. we can easily find pine bark mulch in large bags that is being used for gardening. Home depot's sell different pine bark... might see them as: P. bark nuggets, mini nuggets or mulch... but you wanna make sure to shop around to find where they sell the smallest pieces. you could always screen out the large ones...
I use the big pieces for the large container trees, usually fruit trees and other stuff... but for bonsai I tree to use fine bark..
Bass

If you're shopping for pine bark mulch to use in bonsai soil, you're looking for composted pine bark, which is sold as "soil conditioner" at big box retailers. The soil conditioner is added to clay soils to help break up the density. "Nature's Pride" brand mulches sold by Home Depot make a soil conditioner from composted pine bark--works pretty well in bonsai soil.

I suggest that you visit the Container Gardening Forum here. There is a fascinating thread going on under the title of "Container Soils and Water in Containers" started by "tapla". This gentleman is truly an expert and the entire dialogue on the subject is most informative. I've bookmarked the whole thing for future reference.
Although the subject is actually about large patio and garden containers, the principles apply to bonsai and you will all be well served by reading through it.
Krys

So Krys, how about a link to that thread?

Chris

I recommend the recipe given me by my sensei, Boon Manakitivpart. It is entirely inorganic, uses a thin drainage layer of similar sized pumice particles, and with proper watering and feeding, produces the most amazing root results, as you will see in the photograph.

Chris

Here is a link that might be useful: Boon Mix

I have been lucking to find bagfulls of perfect sized crushed white/black granite (this is actually anthorcite or something other that granite)sold as bird grit. I use this mixed with aquatic plant soil (turface) and maricle grow soil added in ratios depending on species. I know the maricle grow is not the best addition, but my trees do not seem to mind. I also recently found a crapload of crushed granite (this is granite because it has white, black and pink mineral particles in it) by a campsite in northern minnasota. I brought a bucket of this home. Look at a farm store for chicken grit, but make sure it is not a calcium type grit. Swimming pools sand is also great. I have been looking for crushed lava rock. I suppose you could bye tons of all this stuff off the internet.

Sonarctica,

It doesn't look like anyone has directly addressed your question. I also live in SW PA and have had absolutely no luck finding "bonsai soil" locally. The Pittsburgh Bonsai Society used to sell it but their web page has been out of date for quite some time now.

Rather than suffer the shipping expense of buying it on line, I have taken to making my own using things available at the big box and local hardware stores.

I found a product called Soil Perfecter which is an excellent black GRIT about 1/2 the size of a pencil eraser. I pay about $8 for 40 lbs.

I use Shultz Aquatic Soil (a high-fired CLAY) as my base.

As an ORGANIC component, I use orchid bark.

My basic mix is 60% aquatic soil, 20% grit and 20% bark. I'll adjust the composition somewhat per species.

So far so good.