That does it exist article was a brutal read. And it’s wrong. Everything I have read tonight says humus is heavily broken down organic matter. Saying something only exists after it’s treated at pH13 doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist at a lower pH. It seems that blog post is just trying to say “we don’t know what humus is because we can’t single out one chemical that makes humus so it must not exist”, but who knows because it was such a badly written article. That part to justify the results using gravity waves is a false analogy, among other things. Using a single article as proof is never going to convince me of much. Using an article behind a paywall even less so.
Many years ago, maybe as much as fifty according to the guys I used to hang out with, John Naka, Harry Hirao, Bruce Hasayasu, Ernie Kuo, Richard Ota, Hatanaka and the like were using organic in their bonsai soil. These men were true bonsai pioneers on the West coast. That is what we used 50 years ago. There is nothing wrong with using organics in your soil as long as you follow a few simple rules. I will get to that in a moment. Around the mid 1960's Japanese red soil became available to the USA. Know one knows exactly who was the first to get such an import, but I do know that old timers in Fresno were using J. red soil (as it was called) during most of the 70's here. They were using LAVA, PUMICE AND RED SOIL, long before it became known as Boon Mix. In fact I was using that mix in 1984 when I started because thats what everyone here was using. I was buying akadama for 15.00 a bag. So back to the story. About the mid 60's a story came out in some gardening magazine about the nitrogen robbing effects of humus in gardening soil. Compost is not the same as humus because compost has fully decomposed and is no longer "hot", meaning that it's nitrogen robbing properties are gone. Humus on the other hand is a bark product treated with chemicals used to facilitate the decomposition process in the garden to "turn" it into compost. It is during this "turning" that it is hot and requires huge amounts of nitrogen to decompose.
Like everything in bonsai, or any hobby, there are those that do a hobby well and make landmark discoveries within the hobby but because they do not have a International name or even a National name, their work is over looked or for the most part these discoveries remain regional or even in a small community, never reaching the main stream. The internet has opened up great vista's within the community. So I talk about planting on the bottom of the pot with no soil. Big deal, a few say wow that's neat. If Ryan Neil talked about that on a video there would be seven threads here the day after and everyone would be calling him a genius.
So, over the next several years wood products found their way out of bonsai soil mixes and substitutes were tried, given up on, new things tried, haydite, turface and swimming pool filter media (DE). Then the red soil was around. During the late Fifties and sixties, John Naka was going back and fourth to Japan and meeting with masters there, furthering bonsai within America and busy mixing cultures and finding new ideas. I suspect Japanese red soil was one of them. It is available there like a bag of potting soil here. So now the red soil is being used in America for those privy to its availability. John Naka was doing the workshop circuit all during the sixties and seventies and was in Fresno at least once a month. I am sure that is how it became so prevelent in the California bonsai culture.
So now we have come full circle. The products that were widely available then are not so much easy to come by nor affordable. The internet has built a large bonsai culture into every nook and cranny of America and much of it longs for wire, tools, pots, plants, and soil.
So use what you can get easily, just use things that have a long shelf life in the soil. Fir bark and wood nuggets will last for plenty of time before the next repotting. There is nothing that will happen to your tree and you will do just as well as those using 100.00 dollar per pound soil. There will always be those that will pound hard the way it has to be done, but frankly if I cant tell any difference in the way my tree grows using pumice lava and akadama over shredded tires, then I'm not making a fuss.
I was using seedling size orchid bark but have been finding that hard to find now. Recently I found something even better. In the reptile section of the pet store I began using reptile bedding. It is graded and sifted to exactly 1/4 inch size and is the exact size I needed for my soil base component I buy in Sacramento. Pictures and story to follow soon.
