Let us begin this article regarding
Bonsai soil with a clarification of terms. Whilst the phrase Bonsai
soil is what most people will search for to reach this point it
is a term that makes me think of vegetable gardens and the stuff
that you get in the borders. Similarly the terms compost, loam,
soil mixture and other such earthy phrases tend in my opinion to
give the wrong impression. What we need for our trees is better
represented by the phrase "Bonsai Potting Medium". It
makes no assumptions as to its content and describes perfectly what
the function will be.
There are countless ingredients that
can be used in the make up of a potting medium suitable for Bonsai.
Everyone has their personal favourites and will swear by the success
of their own mixture. This suggests that what you use is not that
critical and the differences are not that great. However, we all
live different lives and when considering the right medium or combination
of ingredients you need to consider what that suits your trees requirements,
your lifestyle and local climate.
Lets attempt logically to build the "ideal" potting medium step
by step by examining certain desirable qualities.
Drainage
Your Bonsai growing medium should
be free draining. That means that when you water the water runs
through the pot and out of the holes in the bottom. This makes it
almost impossible to over water. Pure grit drains perfectly. However
you don't need me to tell you that if all the water drains away
then the roots are going to be pretty dry. Which brings us neatly
to our next quality.
Water retention.
Right then, we have our lovely free
draining grit but all the water is running away so we need to add
something that will hold on to some of that moisture so the roots
can take up what they need. Peat or its environmentally friendly
alternatives is pretty good at holding onto water so we could use
that. For many years when I had more trees than I knew what to do
with and a limited budget, this is exactly what I used. Bog standard,
multi-purpose potting compost mixed 50/50 with fine 2-3mm builders
grit. It worked fine. The trees grew quite happily, and there was
enough water retained to keep them going while I was out at work.
I used this mixture for at least 10 years but as the quality of
my trees improved I noticed how the surface got crusty towards the
middle of summer and became aware that the root growth whilst abundant
was not as fine as I would have liked. There was also a tendency
for root growth to be mainly at the outer edges. So our perfect
medium will need to be water retentive to a point. Clay is pretty
good at holding on to water but a solid lump of clay is not exactly
what we need. We're still lacking that magic ingredient. Lets think
about that for a moment and see what else we need.
Oxygen.
A much-overlooked requirement for
roots is a ready supply of oxygen. The tree takes in oxygen through
the roots as part of all that technical stuff that goes on to make
it grow and if the mixture around the roots is too dense then it
will not be able to penetrate as easily. This explains the disappointing
inner root growth with my old peaty/gritty mix. The potting compost
would clog up the gaps between the grit and would compact over time
making it difficult for oxygen to penetrate. Another important point
to consider is the means by which oxygen is drawn into the root
ball. This happens as the potting medium dries out so it is worth
remembering that a tree that is kept constantly wet will be suffocating.
The trick is to water just before the supply of moisture runs out
and give a thorough soaking. This cycle of wet/dry is one of the
things that the books don't tell you and will greatly improve results.
Grain size
For many new Bonsai growers their
experience of gardening will have involved planting trees and shrubs,
heeling them in well with the rear end of a size nine Wellington
boot or planting up cuttings by firming them in well with big green
thumbs. Forget that you ever did that. The approach to Bonsai is
totally different. The potting medium is not compacted between the
roots and the tree is not held in the pot by the potting medium.
Trees are fastened into pots by wire through the base of the pot
and the potting medium is introduced around the roots and flows
between them. Flow is a very good way of imagining the perfect mix
because to do so it must be granular. Granularity is a very important
concept and another key to success. Analogy time...Let's imagine
a box of marbles. They can be considered granular. Sitting there
in the box there is loads of air in between and plenty of drainage.Now
lets take a bucket of sand which can also be considered granular
and add it to the marbles. Give it a bit of a shake. What do we
have now? Our lovely granular box of marbles with nice gaps between
has been clogged up with sand. The point I'm trying to make with
this regression to childhood pastimes is that the grain sizes need
to be the same if the mixture is to remain open. Every time I mix
soil I regress to the Homepride adverts that ran for most of my
growing years. The slogan was "Graded grains make finer flour".
Words of wisdom indeed and worth bearing in mind. I digress. Let
me run through the thought processes that led me to my current mixture
that takes into account all the stuff above. You may take a different
approach but heres how I did it..
I started off with grit but just about
that time a wonderful product came onto the market that goes by
the name of Kyodama. It looks like crushed up lava and even though
I call it grit the makers claim that it can be used on its own.
I was sceptical that anything so grit like in appearance could hold
enough water so planted a Juniper in pure Kyodama and waited. Three
years later the tree is thriving and has never looked like it might
dry out even in mid summer in a green house.
In the meantime I needed a mixture that I had confidence in and
so added Akadama to the mix because I knew that it was tried and
tested. The quality of Akadama which I dislike is that over time
it will crumble to dust. Not necessarily a bad thing because it
allows the roots to travel wherever they wish but I prefer to limit
this crumbling quality to a third of my mixture. Many people use
Akadama on its own which is fine but it has to be sieved and graded
through the pot - large granules at the bottom and finer ones on
top - to get the best results.
I have more than a few trees and not enough time to sieve all my
soil components. I have found that by mixing Akadama with Kyodama,
the need for sieving is removed. Not ideal but an acceptable compromise.
This mixture of Akadama and Kyodama is a perfectly sound mixture
that will suit just about any tree.
However, there was one more component
that I chose to add. Cat litter. This is the point where you frown
and mutter to yourself in an unbelieving way "cat litter?" Yes,
cat litter. There is a product on the market called Biosorb - outrageously
expensive baked clay granules - Cat litter by any other name. Not
every cat litter is suitable. It has to be a baked clay product
the most popular known to Bonsai growers being "Danish Pink". This
is available in large sacks from pet superstores and is added to
my mix in the same proportion as Akadama and Kiyodama.. The advantages
are obvious. It absorbs water readily as you would expect (and makes
a pleasant fizzing noise while doing so), it is of a nice granular
size and best of all it does not break down. The cat litter stays
solid and keeps the mixture nice and open. It also works out cheaper
than the other alternatives. Last but not least it has a pleasant
deodorising fragrance which has not been found detrimental to trees
in any way but at the same time keeps greenfly away. Furthermore,
when repotting, this mixture will easily be removed from roots limiting
damage with a root hook, making the job both easier, quicker and
eliminating mud from the equation. Apart from a little dust when
fresh there is very little mess, it can be reused, contains no undesirable
fertiliser and is neutral. This means that you know exactly what
you are giving your tree - nothing. Therefore there is no danger
of burning roots with unwanted fertiliser and nasty things tend
not to make their home in it. Knowing that you are starting with
a clean sheet means you have total control over what you subsequently
feed your trees. So there you have it, the perfect mixture? Well
perfect for me. I mix it a third of each but adjustments can be
made without affecting performance since each of the ingredients
possess the necessary properties that we have talked about. The
horticulturists out there will be up in arms at this point and use
words like loam, sphagnum moss and leaf mould. I have limited knowledge
and experience using these traditional growing mediums so will neither
try and extol their virtues or dismiss their value. I'm sure they
work fine. All of which proves that there is no such thing as a
perfect potting medium and finding the right one for you is a matter
of trial and error.
Akadama and Kyodama are available from our website
as is our ready mixed potting medium
