Akadama and rainwater

[Fidur]

When I begin to be interested in bonsai (less than a year ago) and made my search of information, decided to use akadama for my soils, and collected rain or inverse osmosis water for watering.
Now, I'm in my sixties and have never been good as horticulturist. Now and then I have had plants. Most of them died in the first couple of months, and the other felt the agony of a slow death. Sure, then I had no horticultural knowledge. Now after this months of "study", I feel I know some things.
The fact is that in this 10 months of activity, none of my now 35 bonsai projects have died. In fact they are all "flourishing".
I feel very proud to have been able to keep alive and happy all this different trees (tropicals, decidious, coniffers, ...).
I've been thinking about it, and I think that the key of this "success" is that I have learned a lot lately, but also my luck comes from the use of akadama (and lava) as soil for all my trees, and the rain water I collect for watering.
It makes everything easy. You can overwater, but the drainage is perfect, so you're forgiven. You see perfectly well when the soil is dry (no need of sticks and other methods to find out). Your saplings are happy about the water you use, so no problems in this sense. This makes your trees strong enough to resist common pests and deseases. So you don't have to be wondering how to stop them.
I know it's been very little time to make this conclusions, but I feel confident to tell my fellow beginners, that if you can access/afford this two items, everything will be easier....

 

[Katie0317]

We use only rain water on our orchids and we have over 150 of then but I wouldn't credit the rain water for their success. With orchids they all have very different light needs and very few want full sun. I think everything helps though. We grow roses too and rain water isn't necessary for them. They may prefer it but it's not an option. People think orchids are terribly difficult to grow and they're not. With my experience with plants I haven't found anything more difficult than growing hybrid tea roses and I've grown them for decades. They continue to challenge me.

I use rain water on the one and only bonsai I've had for ten years but I'm convinced it's bulletproof.

 

[berzerkules]

I kind of wish I could try akadama but I have not found it anywhere in my state and I'm not about to ship the quantity I'd like to have to Alaska. I can always get pumice and 8822 in town and I have an endless supply of spaghnum moss I can collect.

Work with what I can reliability source locally and try to simulate the properties of akadama.

 

[QuantumSparky]

I've stayed away from akadama mostly just because it breaks down over time and starts to gum up the soil, often requiring the tree to be bare-rooted every time it gets repotted. I know it's very popular, but every piece of advice I get seems to point me toward minimizing the use of it or replacing it completely with other material which won't break down and potentially 'cement' the root ball.

Other options are cheaper anyway so I don't feel like I'm missing out on much

 

[ShadyStump]

I kind of wish I could try akadama but I have not found it anywhere in my state and I'm not about to ship the quantity I'd like to have to Alaska. I can always get pumice and 8822 in town and I have an endless supply of spaghnum moss I can collect.

Work with what I can reliability source locally and try to simulate the properties of akadama.

Likewise.
I could order it, but I'm a cheapskate, not to mention I have issues buying things sight unseen so I don't like to shop online to begin with.
The level of experimentation with different mixes, and my propensity for doing things the hard way in general, have been the root cause of my lack of success so far.
That said, I' feel like I've crammed 5 years of tough lessons into my 2 years doing bonsai, so pretty soon here I should be a master, right?

 

[Fidur]

I've stayed away from akadama mostly just because it breaks down over time and starts to gum up the soil, often requiring the tree to be bare-rooted every time it gets repotted.

Not my experience. I have a twenty something years old chinese elm bonsai that has been on that type of soil all of its life (that's what the seller told me). And the last repotting was 3 years ago. I can tell you the soil is still in good condition, and I will not have to repot it next year.
But I don't want to discuss about this, as there will be different "opinions" and "facts".

I'm only saying that as beginners, using this soil at first stages, can make things easier. Later each one can master the mix they prefer. or the better mix for the job.

 

[Colorado]

@Fidur totally agree. Great advice!

 

[SgtPilko]

Well done Fidur, glad all is going well! Good sun, good water, good 'earth' sounds like a winner to me.

I am a few months in, trees pretty healthy and trying hard to follow all the repeated advice about the basics of bonsai cultivation, soils, watering, feeding and especially timing, technique and severity of work on the trees - we have so many resources these days to learn from and there is a lot of consensus in amongst the opinion. Get these big things right, stay patient and I think probability of success should be on your side. Then we need to avoid getting cocky and keep learning and doing the right things i think next year will be a bigger test when I will try some more invasive techniques.

So far I like combos of Akadama, Pumice, Bark, Kyodama for my species, area and watering ability. Been mixing in just a touch of (hopefully) myco/microbe rich used medium as well. I will try pure akadama for maples at some point, but putting me off is I have one currently that is 'gummed up' (purchased like that) that does not drain super well and gets slimy and mossy on top v quickly. Really want to repot that one in Spring.

 

[Bnana]

Not my experience. I have a twenty something years old chinese elm bonsai that has been on that type of soil all of its life (that's what the seller told me). And the last repotting was 3 years ago. I can tell you the soil is still in good condition, and I will not have to repot it next year.
But I don't want to discuss about this, as there will be different "opinions" and "facts".

I'm only saying that as beginners, using this soil at first stages, can make things easier. Later each one can master the mix they prefer. or the better mix for the job.

How many frost/thaw cycles has this soil been through? Probably very few as you live in the Canary Islands.
I wouldn't use Akadama, but I'm in a different climate with many frost/thaw cycles each year.

 

[Fidur]

How many frost/thaw cycles has this soil been through? Probably very few as you live in the Canary Islands.
I wouldn't use Akadama, but I'm in a different climate with many frost/thaw cycles each year.

You're right. No frost/thaw here ever.
A good caveat, what I said must be taken with a grain of salt. My climate is very mild.

 

[leatherback]

How many frost/thaw cycles has this soil been through? Probably very few as you live in the Canary Islands.
I wouldn't use Akadama, but I'm in a different climate with many frost/thaw cycles each year.

exactly what I was thinking. Most beginners that have trouble with their bonsai that I see, have them in substrate with a high eprcentage of akadama broken down in one soggy winter.

 

[mapleX]

This is apology to the akadama!

Personally I think and this without detracting from the work and advice of the creator of this post, that horticulture is not something that is learned in just a few months nor is it something that is reduced to a good choice of soil.

In fact, if we were to talk about soils, we would have to talk about the different areas and climates where the same soil would work very good for some and very bad for others, and this without taking into account the needs of the different species.

In the years that I have been making bonsai if I have learned something it is that there are no "magic formulas" and infallible, this is summed up to experience, to kill trees, to train the eye to see in our plants the signs of diseases / pests. ..etc.

It is definitely not a short path and no one is guaranteed success (maybe the akadama that Harry Potter uses for his bonsai has that power, but still I sincerely doubt it)

 

[Fidur]

It is definitely not a short path and no one is guaranteed success (maybe the akadama that Harry Potter uses for his bonsai has that power, but still I sincerely doubt it)

I didn´t pretend to state that akadama was a guaranteed success. I agree with all your comments.

 

[Dav4]

I live in metro Atlanta, GA, where freeze- thaw cycles occur almost daily from December into March. I’ve been using an akadama based soil for my better trees for at least five years… and they’re all still alive!!! Seriously, I’ve had two collected Rocky Mountain junipers- 500 years old+ Trees- in the mix for five years now, and they haven’t skipped a beat… and we want these trees to develop a firm”cement“/pancake root ball if you will, to form a base for future repots. Eventually you will need to perform a partial bare root but that is something that doesn’t happen very often . Also, when I’ve re-potted trees kept in this mix, nothing, including the akadama,has really broken down significantly, even after three years of repeated freeze thaw cycles during the winter. My take away from these facts is that freeze-thawing isn’t nearly as big a deal with root health as we’ve assumed, and the quality of akadama matters.

 

[hinmo24t]

We use only rain water on our orchids and we have over 150 of then but I wouldn't credit the rain water for their success. With orchids they all have very different light needs and very few want full sun. I think everything helps though. We grow roses too and rain water isn't necessary for them. They may prefer it but it's not an option. People think orchids are terribly difficult to grow and they're not. With my experience with plants I haven't found anything more difficult than growing hybrid tea roses and I've grown them for decades. They continue to challenge me.

I use rain water on the one and only bonsai I've had for ten years but I'm convinced it's bulletproof.

orchids are weird. i have been using the coupledrops or a splash every day or every other method, during summers, semi sun window. theyre happy
winter ill look to move that to 2 days a week.
i use the orchid fert weekly
different than a lot of my plants.

@Fidur im a fan of rainwater as well. dont know about akadama much.

 

[Jcmmaple]

Very cool thread, I’m actually starting a rain barrel this week. I’m going to buy some akadama this year to and try it out next spring along with other mix. I’m excited to see what happens, I know there are mixed feelings on it but if I don’t try it I will not know if it works for me.

 

[Katie0317]

orchids are weird. i have been using the coupledrops or a splash every day or every other method, during summers, semi sun window. theyre happy
winter ill look to move that to 2 days a week.
i use the orchid fert weekly
different than a lot of my plants.

@Fidur im a fan of rainwater as well. dont know about akadama much.

Growing orchids in Florida and Massachusetts are very different experiences! Instead of fertilizing so much you might try using Nutricote, a time released fertilizer that's really good stuff. In addition to that I use Jacks on the orchids (and other plants)...You can now get some variations of Jacks on Amazon. It used to be hard to find.

 

[hinmo24t]

Growing orchids in Florida and Massachusetts are very different experiences! Instead of fertilizing so much you might try using Nutricote, a time released fertilizer that's really good stuff. In addition to that I use Jacks on the orchids (and other plants)...You can now get some variations of Jacks on Amazon. It used to be hard to find.

those are beautiful.
and yes, i learned the difference the hard way with hoyas. only one of five has taken off and survived a winter lol

thanks, i use this once a week now


love Florida btw!!!!!!

 

[hinmo24t]

@Fidur your horticulutre has improved and it seems a good way to go for getting into bonsai.
teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime

 

[Katie0317]

those are beautiful.
and yes, i learned the difference the hard way with hoyas. only one of five has taken off and survived a winter lol

thanks, i use this once a week now
View attachment 392220

love Florida btw!!!!!!

Use what you like but I don't know any serious orchid growers using that fertilizer. If it works for you then have at it. Do you go to shows, or have you joined a club. We never joined a club but have been growing orchids and roses for decades and honestly that's not a fertilizer I've ever heard of anyone at all using! I love Florida too...I'm a native.