coming from the approach of being aware that bonsai can be..a rich mans art..all art is the stuff of many riches so I started breakin'
I'm not sure breaking lava sucks. It is not ideal, takes physical effort, and takes time. However, as much as it may suck (it sure can), it is rewarding when I approach it as a meditation and refinement of skill of some sort rather than just a task that makes my wife say rightfully, "really..and give a slightly puzzled look"..or.."wrap that up, its time to brush her teeth." It would be rad as hell if a medium (psychic pumice) up the street came available..but that shit probably ain't cheap either.
I've been trying to collect native trees from the wild, and thats has been a real learning experience, but I can not escape the idea that everything a tree (bonsai) really needs to function is in a ~40 mile radius of my home where found..and the nursery ones. In other words, akadama is trite for my needs, others too, fuck a yacht.
longwinded huh..
@Stormwater kinda said it. My 'refined' approach is lowes $3 bag (ask if they have any w/ holes for a buck over in that discount pea gravel-mulch stack), go look at the other discounted houseplants, shrubs and trees, then put a single layer of the lava in a big container that the bottom wont fracture too much ( 5 gal. bucket will eventually)...sledge em' down..
here..the ones that don't break easily, put them in the metals pile and move on. Take your rings off. Sit on a bucket, break big and dump until bag is empty.
Next..pour whole schbang on your back deck on a tarp and quickly, methodicaly, and harmoniously break down with hammer side of framing axe you got on a sea cliff a long time ago into relative sizes (I wear glasses, a good beer and music is good here) scooping level piles near and quickly shunning the iron(?)-lava pieces..breathe (not the dust), enjoy it.
I thought it was a bull in a china shop thing but it is calculated random precise hits of processing.....this weird work has made me concentrate on an idea that most tangible things never move or change unless you physically touch them...how did folks get the perfect grain size before the lava breaking machine? Maybe somebody breaking lava thinking about wabi-sabi, and nourishing their craft and observations of wild things with their surroundings..and how best to fill the blank spaces where life does not reside, but is dependent? If i had cheap lava easy I would jump on it.
and only sift as needed...
Honestly, 100% DE has shockingly provided the most healthy trees I have yet, and it is surely getting hotter. I don't exactly know the best way to feed them yet, but I suppose time will tell...summer. It gets hot here quick.
