A better mallsai

[leatherback]

a 2 quart bag

that would be about 2 litres? A large family sized bottle of coke sized portion of substrate? What a ripoff; Those would be about 4 buck here.

 

[Jrmcmich]

Instead of a u-break-I-Fix phone repair you can start a you-kill-I-grow tree business and hope for repeat customers

 

[Canada Bonsai]

I think anything that could be considered beginner-friendly needs to be able to survive indoors.

This is exactly right.

For 5 years I very strongly insisted to work exclusively with species that required cooler winter temperatures for dormancy. By doing this, not only did I turn away many people from my company, but I potentially turned them away from bonsai, or if they weren't turned away from the hobby they likely purchased a plant from Wal-Mart, Ikea, or a big box store with minimal instructions.

After putting a lot of thought into it, in addition to surveys and consultation, this year I decided to start offer 'indoor bonsai'.

Every plant comes with a care guide that is meant to instruct, but also provoke people into researching things deeper on their own.

The 'recommended species' can all survive winter at room temperature, but they can also survive winter at the recommended +2 to +4C (35-39F). This seemed important to me so that beginners can winter their bonsai indoors for the first few years, but when they decide to transition to overwintering at cooler temperatures they can do so with the same plant they already own and to some extend have 'figured out'.

It was a very careful and complicated decision, but I figured if people are going to be entering bonsai anyways one way or another I might as well be there to guide them as much as possible.

 

[rockm]

The vendor was one I haven’t seen at previous shows. He had a few wildly priced items. He didn’t seem to be selling much though.

APL mix is available from a few places around or at least regionally at half of what he was asking. He was banking on convenience (and buyer inexperience if you ask me but I’m a cynical old fart) to sell

 

[Bonsai Nut]

These are middlemen resellers - I don’t think many people buy direct from Japan, Jonas Dupuich, The Ridgeways, I believe most sellers buy from them and mark them way up to be worth selling. As someone that has bought a pallet from Jonas, a bag of akadama can average $27 ‘wholesale’ from him, Me marking them up to $30-35 is more of a favor to the people who join in on the order. Businesses try to at least markup 50% to make it worth it. Have I mentioned akadama is $2 for a big bag in japan, and this was before the yen dropped?

Bonsai Learning Center (our local retailer) brings it in by the pallet/container. A 17 liter bag of Hyuga pumice or 13 liter bag of Double Line Hard Akadama retails for $45, local pick-up, but he gives me about 20% off if I buy pallet quantities.

Soil components don't cost much... the cost is in the shipping. I can get a cubic yard of pumice (765 liters) for $199 from Build-a-Soil... so that's bulk at $0.26/liter... if I pick it up. Freight shipping to NC is another $354 Still a relative bargain versus retail bags, as long as you can use 765 liters of pumice

 

[Brain Treez]

Bonsai Learning Center (our local retailer) brings it in by the pallet/container. A 17 liter bag of Hyuga pumice or 13 liter bag of Double Line Hard Akadama retails for $45, local pick-up, but he gives me about 20% off if I buy pallet quantities.

Soil components don't cost much... the cost is in the shipping. I can get a cubic yard of pumice (765 liters) for $199 from Build-a-Soil... so that's bulk at $0.26/liter... if I pick it up. Freight shipping to NC is another $354 Still a relative bargain versus retail bags, as long as you can use 765 liters of pumice

It's jarring to see how big regional price differences can be. Here, pumice is a little over $50 a yard.

 

[Betula1]

A quart is quarter gallon, or about a liter. Please invade us and implement the metric system already. We'll keep fahrenheit, though.

You can get a 2 quart bag of 1:1:1 mix for about $17 on Amazon. That's high too, you can buy the individual components for a lot less. Generally, the small bags of pre-mixed stuff are a bad value.

in other words 1 Quart = 2 pints

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

It's jarring to see how big regional price differences can be. Here, pumice is a little over $50 a yard.

This is more likely due to the source. In Oregon, there are several pumice mines. But the nearest source to North Carolina is Kansas. So to get pumice to North Carolina, it has to travel at least 1,000 miles. That's the cost difference.

 

[KaeganB]

From the landscape trees I've seen during my visits to Tucson and Phoenix, I would be interested to see Palo Verde bonsai. There are also a good number of some species of Eucalyptus planted near freeway exits, so maybe that would be a possible genus to consider in extreme heat conditions. Are you located in a desert region?

I have about 20 seeds collected and germinating right now that I am going to attempt to make some palo verde bansai out of

 

[Bonsai Nut]

It's jarring to see how big regional price differences can be. Here, pumice is a little over $50 a yard.

I am in the process of having two yards brought into NC... for about $1000. And if that sounds expensive, it is less than half the price of buying retail bags here.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

I have about 20 seeds collected and germinating right now that I am going to attempt to make some palo verde bansai out of

Good luck with that. Make sure to take plenty of pictures to document the process in a thread here. Also, if you enter your general location and/or USDA growing zone, you'll get better and more customized answers. The majority of bonsai is about timing, seasons, and climate, so knowing what part of the world you're in will yield the best answers.
Welcome to the 'Nut House!

 

[Michael P]

Please invade us and implement the metric system already. We'll keep fahrenheit, though.

Yes! Fahrenheit must be abolished as well

 

[Eckhoffw]

My APL alternative. This mix has been a solid option for me.

Oil Dri premium (calcined clay) 25 lbs. for 7.25$

DE. NAPA part #8822 diatonamous earth.
24 quarts. 15$

Lava rock. 10 quarts .25” size. 20$ prices vary.

After sifting, and mixing, I usually yield around 6 gals. of around .25” particles + 3 gals of fines that have proven effective for growing seedlings and cuttings.

Totals up to around 43$.
Soil soil soil!

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

My APL alternative. This mix has been a solid option for me.

Oil Dri premium (calcined clay) 25 lbs. for 7.25$

DE. NAPA part #8822 diatonamous earth.
24 quarts. 15$

Lava rock. 10 quarts .25” size. 20$ prices vary.

After sifting, and mixing, I usually yield around 6 gals. of around .25” particles + 3 gals of fines that have proven effective for growing seedlings and cuttings.

Totals up to around 43$.
Soil soil soil!

I use LOTS of 8822. Seems to work great to hold moisture in my climate.
A question, and I'm aware I should probably know this by this point in my bonsai education:
What's the difference between lava and pumice?

 

[Eckhoffw]

I use LOTS of 8822. Seems to work great to hold moisture in my climate.
A question, and I'm aware I should probably know this by this point in my bonsai education:
What's the difference between lava and pumice?

My ignorant answer.

“lava” is more glass like in structure.
Pumice is finer, more porous, and thus more retentive than Lava.
I know it all has to do with temperature and cooling -but beyond that- it’s all lava.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

My ignorant answer.

“lava” is more glass like in structure.
Pumice is finer, more porous, and thus more retentive than Lava.
I know it all has to do with temperature and cooling -but beyond that- it’s all lava.

Fair enough. It's at least an answer, so I thank you. It kind of reinforces my vague understanding. I knew pumice was quite porous and lightweight, but I wasn't sure how it was different from "lava" specifically.

 

[Wood]

This is more likely due to the source. In Oregon, there are several pumice mines. But the nearest source to North Carolina is Kansas. So to get pumice to North Carolina, it has to travel at least 1,000 miles. That's the cost difference.

This doesn't even scratch the surface on horticultural utility of different sources of pumice either. I've heard plenty of people, including Michael Hagedorn, muse that sources outside of Oregon don't perform as well

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

This doesn't even scratch the surface on horticultural utility of different sources of pumice either. I've heard plenty of people, including Michael Hagedorn, muse that sources outside of Oregon don't perform as well

I didn't know that. It's interesting; my first impression is "Why would the source matter?"
But it makes sense. Different mineral content, different temperatures of the molten rock, different cooling/hardening times could all affect the porosity/density (and therefore the weight-to-volume ratio), strength and durability of the resulting stone, and the size/structure of the pores. So I can see how it could definitely perform differently from different sources.

 

[Wood]

I didn't know that. It's interesting; my first impression is "Why would the source matter?"
But it makes sense. Different mineral content, different temperatures of the molten rock, different cooling/hardening times could all affect the porosity/density (and therefore the weight-to-volume ratio), strength and durability of the resulting stone, and the size/structure of the pores. So I can see how it could definitely perform differently from different sources.

I believe most of the theorizing focuses on porosity and nutrient holding capabilities. Michael mentioned it in this blog post but it's not the full discussion: https://crataegus.com/2025/02/28/100-pumice-as-soil/