Excuse me, but- You Selectivy quoted me in an attempt to mis-represent the words that i posted and implied I had said or meant something that sounded completely ignorant, so, YEAH... I think it is pretty clear you were trying to stir shit up... Then, you did it again in this post! You make it seem like I came right out and called you ignorant.. There was an "if" qualification made prior to the PORTION you chose to quote- which again is an attempt to Mis-represent the meaning of my words and make me seem like "the bad guy" here. You can play it off any way you wish, but that pretty much pisses me off. Sorry. It does. I am a pretty laid back even tempered person most the time, but the way you are responding to me and twisting my words is downright obnoxious. In my eyes that is an attempt to escalate things.
As for your comments on Akadama... If a fussy watering schedule is an issue for you... Well- I have trees that need to be watered 2-3 times a day in the heat of the summer sometimes... Believe me, I get it! I used to rely more on organic ingredients to avoid having to water my trees as often, but... Since I grasped what I feel is the biggest benefit of a good inorganic mix, the health and vigor of my trees has improved dramatically. See, if you have a bunch of heavy organics it is possible to over water (though difficult and I think over watering is the most over- exaggerated health concern for trees in Bonsai- UNDER WATERING is the rampant killer of trees especially among newbies IMO)... It is also possible to get too comfortable not watering every day and wind up leaving your trees alone too long and letting them dry out... A good, open inorganic mix makes it virtually impossible to over-water! You CAN water on a schedule, that schedule is EVERY DAY during the summer... It also makes it very hard to over fertilize if you are using organic ferts and don't just go insanely overboard! Lots of water, lots of nutrients.. That is a pretty easy schedule for watering and nutrients- harder to make mistakes that are dangerous for your trees... It is a good way to go. Akadama breaking down has not caused a problem for any of my trees. I have some in mixes with Ak for about two years now, and the only ones that have had any break down were trees where I disturbed the soil soon after watering and crushed it manually myself... They still never showed much in the way of changes in water absorption or drainage.
Sure, trees CAN grow in all sorts of stuff. I am far from an exclusive user of these hyped up Japanese ingredients... In fact I only really use them in trees that are farther along in development/ my best trees. Personally I am not going to spend the money it takes to fill large pots with those soil ingredients or even turface/ DE for that matter.. So I use my own potting soil mix for growing trees out. That is- to me- the most difficult part of soil discussion- different people, in different locations talking about trees at varying degrees of development... Leads to a lot of disagreement, arguing and in the end- most people are just going to say "I like my way, I am not changing" in the end anyway...
Personally, I was a turface using anti-Akadama guy myself a couple years a go- "it is too expensive, turface works fine for me, my trees are growing fine so why switch..." Until I actually tried a good mix of Akadama/ lava/ pumice. You can only learn so much from reading about this sort of stuff. Until you have a few trees sitting on your bench growing in it, you will not understand or willingly accept the differences and benefits.
Turns out the Internet is terrible at tone. I was genuinely just trying to add something to the discussion, not trying to stir shit up.
The reason for the selective quoting was simply to highlight the point I was addressing for context, not as some sort of gotcha or manipulative way to make you out to be the bad guy. I agreed with most of the rest of what you were saying, so saw no point in quoting it all.
TBH, I was a little taken aback by the all caps "astounding ignorance" comment, but I think we were just misunderstanding each other a bit. I'm more or less unoffendable, so it's all good. Water under the bridge ...
You do make very legit points, especially on over/underwatering. Underwatering is undoubtedly one of the big reasons beginners kills trees, as is using poorly draining soil that compounds the problem.
The mix I use is mostly inorganic for that reason. It can take being watered every day, and I prefer to, but has just enough organics in it to hold a little extra moisture if I need it to.
It's definitely not some thing I made up - it's professional bonsai soil from the local shop. It's what they use.
I don't mind having trees that need water 2-3 times a day in the summer, but I do travel for work occasionally, so I like giving a little margin of error to folks who water my trees, since none of them are bonsai people and I've learned the hard way to make it as easy as possible or come back to dying or dead trees.
Seems to work out fine - I've been using it for many years and my trees thrive in it. It does get a bit expensive though, as I do usually use it for growing out anything I deem a "serious project". Basically, if it's in a nursery pot, I usually try to get it in good soil within a year or so of getting it.
I like growing trunks, so in practice that means I have lots of nursery stock projects going on at any give time. I do occasionally look for cheaper alternatives for growing out stock, but haven't found anything I really like better yet, or that I'd trust for more than a season or two.
