So you like akadama (KA KA dama)

[Mudroot]

The cactus mix is TINY bit only enough to make...some..organic.
What in peat will kill a tree?
On, also none of my trees DIED.
Three just quit draining and started staying wet.
There was NO cactus mix in them.
Kakadama and some pumice only.

 

[Smoke]

Cactus soil contains ground peat moss. It will stay wet for a long time if you can get it wet. When dry it will shed water like a ducks back. You can water a tree planted in cactus mix and the top will look wet but 1/2" under the soil it is dry. I wish you well.

 

[leatherback]

Your cat litter is vastly different from what's sold in the US. Ours (every brand I've come across) turns to mush almost instantly and the particle size is smaller (Turface sized).

This stuff is from ONE specific brand. Effectively, it is expanded backed clay. All other brands are self-clumping too, and tree-killers.

Harrie Harrington of bonsai4me has collected a range of similar alternatives, if you cannot get the stuff show in this thread. (That lava looks like great stuff!)
http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basicscatlitter page4.html

I have started using a product used in construction to even out floors; It is like lava, but a lot lighter. It is traded in Germany (And probably other coutries in Europe) as Rigips Rigidur Ausgleichsschüttung. I use this, mixed with 10-20% kitty litter & 10-20% sifted pine bark as basic micture for all trees. Species that like more moisture (potentilla, most notably) I add more of the kitty litter, which acts as a sponge, thus giving a lot of moisture, without the soil being wet.

I used the kitty litter pure too. I found that in winter a lot of ice-crystals expand from them (As they hold so much water in them) which much damage the roots (The rootball comes up by 10+%. And algea like the moist surface. Mixed in with the floor-filler, I find I do not get these problems.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Mudroot; Poetically appropriate is your screen name to this subject. Agree with you I do. Baked, dried or otherwise it is just clay(ridiculouslyexpensive clay)and will break down. I therefore will never use it either. Why bonsai people will choose to use the last choice of mediums for planting anything in beyond me it is. Unless seedlings or tiny trees you are repotting every year and wasting even greater money on junk potting medium unneeded this should be. Mud it is and mud it will return to and as American Bonsaists we can do better with pumice, lava and perhaps a percentage of organics but never mud. Expect a bunch ofmail I do but it is no matter. There remain many who will blindly follow what has been used by the Japanese just because that is where the masters are at. As Americans new things WE are doing with Bonsai. Afraid to change we should not be.

 

[JudyB]

He does not ship. If you ask him where he gets it, he will not sell to you....

So someone in the area could go and repackage for a fee....

 

[Smoke]

I suppose..if you had nothing better to do..like a job.

 

[JudyB]

Yeah, if you were retired, and just looking for a little side job...

 

[Mudroot]

So someone in the area could go and repackage for a fee....

This is a call for the BONSAI NINJAS!
Balaclavas and black suits and we infiltrate and DISCOVER THE SOURCE!!!

I've seen awfully close approximations at some yard supply places.
But, of course, it is not OFFICIAL ....mocha.... lava.

So doubt it would work.

(P.S. it has to be a CLOSE source to be so cheap as SHIPPING would be a real bear)

 

[Mudroot]

Got both. I mix em with a tad of pumice and cactus mix.

I sure hope everyone understands that in my definition, a "tad" means almost none.
I somehow think that some who read that assumed I have potted the forest in 100% deep damp drippy soggy moldy cactus mix.
There is ONLY enough to stay wet so the heat hereabouts won't make it SO critical to pass a couple extra hours without showering the soil with water.

also MY ...gulp....cactus mix has Canadian Peat moss as the last mentioned ingredient. First is fir bark compost.

But..... it is also REALLY.... a "tad"

Almost like a pepper shaker in the mix. SOME, but not very damn much. Almost NONE!

THERE! Cleared up, I hope.

 

[Geo]

So why not make it NONE? Smoke told you what to do.

 

[Geo]

Buy a coconut with the husk still on,Strip the husk off.Get to the fibers,Strip them out and cut them up.Use them sparingly in the mix.You want moisture?You get it.In spades. It is now called COIR.

 

[Geo]

Potawatomi13:
" Mudroot; Poetically appropriate is your screen name to this subject. Agree with you I do. Baked, dried or otherwise it is just clay(ridiculouslyexpensive clay)and will break down. I therefore will never use it either. Why bonsai people will choose to use the last choice of mediums for planting anything in beyond me it is. Unless seedlings or tiny trees you are repotting every year and wasting even greater money on junk potting medium unneeded this should be. Mud it is and mud it will return to and as American Bonsaists we can do better with pumice, lava and perhaps a percentage of organics but never mud. Expect a bunch ofmail I do but it is no matter. There remain many who will blindly follow what has been used by the Japanese just because that is where the masters are at. As Americans new things WE are doing with Bonsai. Afraid to change we should not be."
FYI, this is not strictly an American site,and,as far as I can tell,not anti-Japanese.I cannot acquire Akadama where I am.I might not use it if I could.However, your rant about Akadama(note the small"r")combined with the flag waving,and the retro Yoda-speak:well .....

 

[Mudroot]

So why not make it NONE? Smoke told you what to do.

Well, that's a good suggestion. The only problem is that the post came after the fact.

BUT.... I am determined to REPOT TODAY!

That half a teaspoon of cactus mix in each pot is gonna just EAT at me.

 

[michaelj]

He does not ship. If you ask him where he gets it, he will not sell to you....

Is it BYO bucket? And is it only sold by the bucket? I drive to that area infrequently, but I might like bringing 20-25 gallons of this stuff home to try.

 

[Smoke]

Is it BYO bucket? And is it only sold by the bucket? I drive to that area infrequently, but I might like bringing 20-25 gallons of this stuff home to try.

Byob and I have no idea abou a trailer load. This is brought to you from sunny Nipomo.

 

[M. Frary]

I therefore will never use it either.

Have you tried it? I haven't either. But I will. How can so many of the best bonsai practitioners be wrong?
Just because we are Americans doesn't make us better than anyone else in innovation. If it weren't for Japanese bonsai masters none of us would be here now would we?
Trees grow in all kinds of things. Including clay. Ever bought a balled and burlapped tree. Most likely it will be growing very well in a hard packed ball of clay.

 

[Mudroot]

The results of my kakadama divorce are in.
ALL the trees I took out of that muck and put into lava are far FAR greener.

For what it's worth.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

More for me.

 

[Smoke]

The results of my kakadama divorce are in.
ALL the trees I took out of that muck and put into lava are far FAR greener.

For what it's worth.

Probably that half teaspoon of cactus mix that did the job!

 

[edprocoat]

The results of my kakadama divorce are in.
ALL the trees I took out of that muck and put into lava are far FAR greener.

For what it's worth.

That's amazing that you could see such positive results in just 18 days !


ed