So you like akadama (KA KA dama)

[KennedyMarx]

Looks like you didn't sift it at all. Kind of defeats the purpose of using a free draining substrate. Are you scared of mixing your own soil? I wouldn't use akadama by itself, at least not for a juniper. I'd mix in some lava, pumice, or chunky perlite.

 

[Mudroot]

Moot. It's dumped out and the trees are in grit now. WEE bit of organic.
Hoping they survive.

 

[Geo]

Thank the good Lord for Moot.

 

[Mudroot]

Thank the good Lord for Moot.

ONLY if it's mixed in the correct proportions!

 

[Cypress187]

I use the catlitter-clay, and it's practicly unbreakable and it makes a nice sound when it's soaking up water Also it smells nice.

 

[parhamr]

I use the catlitter-clay, and it's practicly unbreakable and it makes a nice sound when it's soaking up water Also it smells nice.

+1 for diatomaceous earth gravel

 

[KennedyMarx]

I use the catlitter-clay, and it's practicly unbreakable and it makes a nice sound when it's soaking up water Also it smells nice.

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).

 

[Mudroot]

I'm shopping for a source for riprap.

 

[Smoke]

Did you ever go to Murayama and get a bucket of mocha lava. Its like $5.00 a five gallon bucket. Best stuff you will ever use.

Here are some buckets full of the stuff. 5.00 a bucket. Thats a buck a gallon!



Here it is more close up.




Here is straight up out of the bucket sifted to two sizes.


This is the stuff divided into the lava and the pumice particles which is about 50/50. I have many trees planted in this alone, and they thrive. Need more moisture retention then add some SIFTED akadama or some fir bark as in orchid mix seedling size.


In the words of some of my brethren, you would have to be an Ass clown to not be using this. If you can't grow plants in this, then give it up. I sent this stuff to you in a PM like a year ago. What happened?

 

[jquast]

Did you ever go to Murayama and get a bucket of mocha lava. Its like $5.00 a five gallon bucket. Best stuff you will ever use.

Here are some buckets full of the stuff. 5.00 a bucket. Thats a buck a gallon!

/QUOTE]


I stop there once a year and load upon about 25 gallons. Can't beat the price or the quality and I too have material growing in just this material and they grow great.

 

[Mudroot]

Got some Murayama lava sittin in the back yard now. Using it while replacing the mudpacks.

 

[Cypress187]

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).

Yeah, there aren't much good brands. I had to go to a specialized animal store for it (there was a post or someone who found US catlitter clay which was good, but i can't find it anymore.)

Edit: http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basicscatlitter.htm (page 4)

 

[Smoke]

Got some Murayama lava sittin in the back yard now. Using it while replacing the mudpacks.

The stuff I showed above or straight lava, he sells both.

Mocha lava in the foreground and red lava only in the background.

 

[Mudroot]

Got both. I mix em with a tad of pumice and cactus mix.
Hope it works. I've never seen such non-activity in roots EVER as with that goop they were in.

 

[michaelj]

Did you ever go to Murayama and get a bucket of mocha lava. Its like $5.00 a five gallon bucket. Best stuff you will ever use.

So, as this is sold, is it basically 50% pumice and 50% scoria or a scoria equivalent?

 

[Smoke]

Got both. I mix em with a tad of pumice and cactus mix.
Hope it works. I've never seen such non-activity in roots EVER as with that goop they were in.

Look I'm only going to say this once, I'm not tryin to be a bitch or a big shot or anything like that. You don't need more pumice, its already 50% so more is just another expense and cactus mix is more pumice and ground peat and ground peat will kill your trees. If you had this cactus mix in the last stuff that is why your trees died. It was never watered.
JUST USE THE MOCHA LAVA AND RELAX.

SEE this tree, 100 percent mocha lava and nothing else...period. Two years from that stump. Can't do that with cactus soil.....ever!

 

[Adair M]

I gotta say, that mocha lava looks pretty good!

 

[Eric Group]

The stuff I showed above or straight lava, he sells both.

Mocha lava in the foreground and red lava only in the background.

View attachment 77956

Look I'm only going to say this once, I'm not tryin to be a bitch or a big shot or anything like that. You don't need more pumice, its already 50% so more is just another expense and cactus mix is more pumice and ground peat and ground peat will kill your trees. If you had this cactus mix in the last stuff that is why your trees died. It was never watered.
JUST USE THE MOCHA LAVA AND RELAX.

SEE this tree, 100 percent mocha lava and nothing else...period. Two years from that stump. Can't do that with cactus soil.....ever!
View attachment 77974
View attachment 77973

So.. You think this so tuff is better than tuface? Naaaahhhh...

Jk of course..

Do they ship it? $5 for a 5 gallon bucket is so cheap it kind of makes me sick inside to compare it to what I have paid for Akadama, pumice, Lava... Even at $5 for a big flat rate box+ the flat rate shipping cost is still a little over HALF what a comparable amount of Akadama would normally cost me!

 

[Geo]

Great looking tree!

 

[Smoke]

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