Ohioan looking to source Akadama, Pumice and Lava Rock

[red]

Hello, I would like to make my own soil mix and am looking to source these three products. Would anyone know of good sources in the Ohio area(specifically Canton/Akron/Cleveland) for these products or where they can be acquired online for decent prices?

I'm looking for enough to have 10 gallons of each sized at 1/4"-3/8".

Thank you for your help in advance.

red

 

[youngsai]

Coincidentally I sell soil on ebay good prices imho, check me out!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181252948991?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

But I must tell you, this does not have Akadama, which is the creme of the crop in bonsai soil components. But these are much cheaper local soil components that will keep your trees arguably as healthy and happy. Other people on here have posted links to cheap (relatively) Akadama, and the debate between whether a "superior" substrate is needed is still a heated topic...

A quick search using your keywords turned up this recent post, there are a few posts on here for Akadama, and some mention about the alternatives similar to what my soil is composed of, others are on sources for pumice.

http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?7503-Akadama&highlight=akadama+sources

 

[JudyB]

I do not believe you will find these products, at least not akadama in Ohio. After exhaustive price comparisons, I've found that Hollow Creek nursery has the best shipped akadama price, and lava price. I like the hyuga pumice better for the tan coloring, the best price to Ohio for that is on ebay at house of bonsai. Keep in mind this is for relatively small amounts, not bulk purchasing.

 

[red]

I do not believe you will find these products, at least not akadama in Ohio. After exhaustive price comparisons, I've found that Hollow Creek nursery has the best shipped akadama price, and lava price. I like the hyuga pumice better for the tan coloring, the best price to Ohio for that is on ebay at house of bonsai. Keep in mind this is for relatively small amounts, not bulk purchasing.

Thanks, Judy. What about Turface? Have you tried locating a supplier of Turface, if you even use it?

Thanks

 

[JudyB]

Yes I have used turface, and have largely moved away from it. I went to a haydite/river sand mix, and used a bit of turface for some plants with this mix. Next spring I'm moving into an akadama/pumice/lava mix. I'll be using straight kanuma for my beeches. Turface is readily available here, I bought it from a place that sells to athletic departments at schools, as they use it for ball fields. Google it, and you'll be able to find a supplier. I have found that with both the turface and the haydite, the soil particle size isn't the best for my trees. If you do go that route, I would suggest that you plan on screening it.

 

[red]

Yeah, that was the mix I was hoping to utilize, but I'm having a hard time committing to the price of Akadama online. I did locate a John Deere Landscape dealer today that carries Turface MVP for ~$10 per 50lb bag.

Would Turface be a good substitute for Akadama in Boon's mix(Akadama/Lava/Pumice)?

It looks like I'm a bit over 2 hours from your area, something I'm willing to drive if I needed to for a good deal. If you ever find anything local, shoot me a PM and I can do the same.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[coh]

Another option to consider if you don't have a local source and don't want to pay shipping - plan to attend a bonsai show/festival/symposium where they have vendors...you can buy direct and avoid the shipping (assuming you drive, I guess ). I don't know what kinds of opportunities of this sort exist within a reasonable drive of you. The national exhibit in Rochester next September might be worth a trip, and there's something in Chicago each year, I think (Judy and others would know more about that).

Chris

 

[JudyB]

Yeah, that was the mix I was hoping to utilize, but I'm having a hard time committing to the price of Akadama online. I did locate a John Deere Landscape dealer today that carries Turface MVP for ~$10 per 50lb bag.

Would Turface be a good substitute for Akadama in Boon's mix(Akadama/Lava/Pumice)?

It looks like I'm a bit over 2 hours from your area, something I'm willing to drive if I needed to for a good deal. If you ever find anything local, shoot me a PM and I can do the same.

Thanks again for your help.

I had the same problem with the level of $ it takes to go there.... Now I have some trees that are worth it, I'm going. Personally (me, just me) I'm over turface for a substrate. I know some have great results with it, but I've found for me, that it just didn't work as well.

You'll have to find lava and pumice in smaller sizes for turface to work with them. You don't want grains of differing sizes...

You can locally (your area) source haydite, (there is a haydite mine up there) which is a viable component, again, the particles are smaller than I want. (and they seem to dry out faster than I want too.)
Dale Cochoy is from your location, and he used haydite/river sand/bark mix with great results. There used to be a place called the Bonsai Den online, that was in your area, that sold this mix, don't know if they are still in business. There is also another bonsai place in Canton, the name of the place slips my mind right now.
Maybe shoot Dale a PM, he is still on this forum.

You should update your profile so we know how to give you good answers for your location.

 

[red]

I had the same problem with the level of $ it takes to go there.... Now I have some trees that are worth it, I'm going. Personally (me, just me) I'm over turface for a substrate. I know some have great results with it, but I've found for me, that it just didn't work as well.

You'll have to find lava and pumice in smaller sizes for turface to work with them. You don't want grains of differing sizes...

Hmm, didn't realize Turface had such a small particle size. I was hoping to keep my mix at a 1/4" average particle size.

You can locally (your area) source haydite, (there is a haydite mine up there) which is a viable component, again, the particles are smaller than I want. (and they seem to dry out faster than I want too.)

That's one of the drawbacks of Haydite I've read about and would like to avoid.

Dale Cochoy is from your location, and he used haydite/river sand/bark mix with great results. There used to be a place called the Bonsai Den online, that was in your area, that sold this mix, don't know if they are still in business. There is also another bonsai place in Canton, the name of the place slips my mind right now.
Maybe shoot Dale a PM, he is still on this forum.

That place wouldn't happen to be Ken's World of Bonsai in North Canton, would it? I just discovered him today and apparently he sells 1/4" red lava. If I can source that from him and find a good or local deal on pumice, I would save enough to reconsider having akadama shipped. I'm going to email him tonight about the lava for next spring and see what he says.

You should update your profile so we know how to give you good answers for your location.

Done. I live in Wooster, but work in Massillon, right next door to Canton. Thanks again for the help.

 

[red]

OK, so in case anyone looks through this thread for ideas, Ken's World of Bonsai in North Canton, OH has 1/4" Red Lava Rock in 1 CF bags and sells them for $15 each or 40+ bags for $10 each. Pretty excited about finding this source.

I've emailed Dry Stall to see if they have a supplier in the area as well since I can't find a supply of pumice. I'll update this thread once I hear back from them.

As for Akadama, I'm just going to have to acquire that online. Thanks to JudyB for a best price source.

 

[sikadelic]

Anybody had luck with franchise chains that carry dry stall/pumice or crushed lava? I was finally able to find turface at a local John Deere landscaping branch but the pumice and lava are giving me fits.

 

[berobinson82]

Anybody had luck with franchise chains that carry dry stall/pumice or crushed lava? I was finally able to find turface at a local John Deere landscaping branch but the pumice and lava are giving me fits.

Seems like east coasters are going to be out of luck without suffering the shipping costs.

 

[JudyB]

best price I found for lava was at hollow creek 50 lb bags of clay king, (great stuff, perfect size). Yes there is shipping, but 50 lb bags work out to $1.52 per pound with the shipping added to where I live in Ohio. Worth it for me.

 

[berobinson82]

best price I found for lava was at hollow creek 50 lb bags of clay king, (great stuff, perfect size). Yes there is shipping, but 50 lb bags work out to $1.52 per pound with the shipping added to where I live in Ohio. Worth it for me.

Can't find it on the site. Can you link it up? Pretty please with micronutrients on top?

 

[Poink88]

Can't find it on the site. Can you link it up? Pretty please with micronutrients on top?

Not sure how much it weights but I buy this 3 gallon on eBay for roughly $30 delivered.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-Red-l...ertilizer_Soil_Amendments&hash=item20dcb29ed2

I also get my pumice from him.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-8-Large-P...ertilizer_Soil_Amendments&hash=item20dc80209f

 

[dick benbow]

Don't worry about clay king. It's a wonderful mix of the three elements similar to the "boon" mix. great product. Our local retail establishment used to import it till last year. Am scrambling
to find a new source myself. Can't bring it in anymore and get thru customs. Did you know everything coming in from japan is tested for radioactivity? A month ago, they delayed release of a shipment of koi for 3 hrs till they could pass a wand around it. Doesn't sound like much but when the fish have already been in the box over 24 hrs and have another 4 hrs via ground transportation before reelease, your getting mighty close to the end of the 0/2!

If I could look into the future, I'd say it's Soooooooooo important to be able to come up with a replacement for our soil needs that's produced domestically. I see the writing on the wall and it ain't good!

What's been fun for me (sic) is urging koi folks to buy american made koi so americn breeders can afford to buy better and better japanese stock before we loose the ability to import. Koi folks look at me as if I'm cracy, as domestic is second class. LOL, wait till they can't get japanese anymore and have to accept what's available.

 

[berobinson82]

Not sure how much it weights but I buy this 3 gallon on eBay for roughly $30 delivered.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-Red-l...ertilizer_Soil_Amendments&hash=item20dcb29ed2

I also get my pumice from him.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-8-Large-P...ertilizer_Soil_Amendments&hash=item20dc80209f

Got a few boxes of the exact same in my garage right now waiting to go into next year's mix. I'm pretty sure I found them from a previous post of yours. Thanks

 

[fore]

This week I'm working on shipping costs from Chicago to other local states. I'm going to be offering bulk pallets, 67# pallets, or indiv. 67#/1.5cuft. It's this last shipping rate I'm working on. I plan on placing my order near end of Jan. I'll post more details in my pumice thread when I have the final details. This may or may not help you east coasters, shipping will be determine if I can make this happen.

Judy, was that Clay King in a box? What shipper did Hollow Creek use? Thanks!
Chris

 

[Poink88]

I will be sifting soil components soon also to get ready for spring. This will be my first major re-potting season since I didn't do any last year. Good that I can do the tropicals much later. Spring should be fun... and busy. I might even take a couple days off from work. LOL

 

[JudyB]

BEAM CLAY, not clay king.... sorry

Here is the link, it's not in the regular cat. choices, you have to use the search function for it....
And sorry, it's BEAM CLAY, not clay king.... oooooops!!!!
http://www.hollowcreekbonsai.com/ecommerce/50-lb-bag-1-4-clean-red-lava-rock-lava50.rhtml

It comes as a bag in a regular box. UPS is the cheapest choice I had. You have to put it in your cart, and then ask to estimate delivery. It will give you choices at that point, so you can see the cheapest way for your area.