baked loam as main ingredient for bonsai substrate
I try to avoid the word 'bonsai soil' because there is no soil in modern bonsai substrate. I use for ALL plants that are in containes (bonsai, also the most expensive ones, flowers for the house and terrasse, tomatos tec.) 70 to 80 % of baked loam and 20 to 30 % of rough peat. Instead or in addition to baked loam you can take pumice, lava split, hard akadama (not the cheap one, because it decomposes and can kill your trees, crushed bar etc.
Baked loam is sold under many different names. Look for mateirals that are for tennis courts, addtion to soil for golf courses, sports lawns, material used by fire departments to pick up lost oil, material used in the building industry for insulation against cold and heat and for sounds. In America a product called 'turface' is fine. If you ahve a choice between the round particles and crushed ones always take the crushed ones.
In Germany a product called 'Maxit', 'Fibotherm' is OK. Use particle size of 2mm to 4mm. sometimes one gets a wide variation of sizes. Sieve your material and throw away everything that is smaller then 2mm.
Do NOT create a special drainage area in your pot. Your SUBSTRATE IS DRAINAGE SUBSTRATE:
This has the following properties:
cheap
easy to get in any garden supply store
one CANNOT OVERWATER! Yes, you can water as much as you want, any fool can water properly
One MUST water often and a lot every time
one must feed on a regular basis, like every 10 days to two weeks (any fertilizer that you can get for NORMAL plants, liquid or not, high nitrogen content is OK!
it is light when dry! This means one can carry very large trees without help.
On many of these products the color is very good. No other top soil needed.
That's it, this is my soil secrete.
1) bag
2) baked clay or loam
3) substrate ready for planting 80 % baked clay and 20 % rough peat
23 comments:
My compliments for this blog, it is very useful and inspirational for bonsai enthusiasts :-)
I have few questions...
What do you think about using Bims as part of soil mixture?
Since you are using mixture of 70 to 80 % of baked loam and 20 to 30 % of rough peat, do you need to use more fertiliser than regular?
Thanks,
Regards, Marija
Marija,
Bims and pumice is the same. You can use it instead of baked clay. Pumice only does not have a good color and is so light that it swims away when one waters strongly.
One needs more fertilizer than with old-fashioned bonsai soil.
Walter
Hi Walter. I have a question. Why do you set the minimum limit of particle size at 2mm and not for instance at 1,5 mm. I have just bought a lot of baked and crushed clay with a particle size of 1,5 mm- 2,5mm. (They were out of 2,5- 4 mm, whitch is what I really wanted). I understand that bigger particles are better for bigger pots, but do you think that 1,5 mm particles are too small for big pots.
Hi Walter. I have a question. Why do you put the limit to particle size at 2mm and not 1,5 mm for instance. I just bought a lot of baked and crushed clay with a particle size from 1,5 mm- 2,5mm. (they were sold out on 2,5mm- 4mm whitch is what I really wanted). I understand that bigger particles are better for bigger pots, but do you think 1,5 mm is to small for big pots?
One more question. How much does the clay you use weigh pr kg or ton?(dry weight)
Rune,
you can also take 1.5 mm. I took 2 mm because that's the size of the brand I use. One should avoid to use very small particles because they tend to clog the substrate and then it is not well draining and aeriating anymore.
I am not so sure about the weight. I can carry 50 liters easily with two hands when it is dry, which means it should be around 25 kg per 50 liters. This makes it roughly .5 kg per liter. Probably even less.
Walter
I just realized that my last question was rather stupid. I meant to ask about weight pr. volum : )
O well Rune, that's alright. I took into account that you are sitting in the Norwegian outback and you are having winter depression. :-)
Good to see you are going to post some styling at KoB.
Walter
Hi Walter. Sorry for simple questions, but Can you define "rough peat". When I go to the supply store they look at me funny and ask if I want to buy "Peat moss" in the large compressed bricks or not.
Thanks for the info.
Rob
WARNING:
I found out on my American trip that soft Akadam is sold as 'bonsai pumice' in America. This is a dirty trick to circumvent import restrictions. It is forbidden or very difficulut to import soil, but it is OK to import stones. Pumice is a kind of stone. But akdama certainly is not pumice nor stone, it is clay. So please do not use akadama thinking it is pumice. It should be forbidden altogether.
Rough peat is this bronwnish blackish stuff that comes from the bogs. It is eihter more like dust and then you should not use it. Or it is still old dry sphagnum moss. This is what I call 'rough' peat.
Walter
Dear Mr.Pall,
A friend with much more experience in Bonsai than me is also using with good results that kind of 'peat' obtained from the outer shell of the coconut; we can find this material easier than true, rough peat.
Also in Romania we can't find yet baked clay (the one you're mentioning as used for construction purposes). That's why we use some replacements, sometimes even homemade ones...For instance I am currently testing some natural red clay granules, irregularly shaped, which I find in a certain place in a forest (a red clay vein in the soil). I baked these granules in tin cans under heavy fire and the result is a black granulated material, hard to crush, which can hold about 1/4 of weight water. The nice thing is the granules are already made by nature (this type of clay naturally break in granules, under frost/defrost cycles), I only have to sieve them, the general size is around 3-5 mm, with sharp edges.
Keep up the good work and thank you for this blog!!
Bogdan.
Could you tell us more about importance of pH value of supstrate.What do you think about usage of vermicutite?
Regards from Croatia!
Marija,
I don't care really about pH. Yes, it is important, but most of the time it is fine anyway. All standard substrates keep pH around neutral. Trees can stand a wide variation of pH. Just look at all over the worlk where trees grow. They don't care much about exact pH as long as it is not extreme.
I have no experience with vermiculite.
I am playing around with Chabasai, which is really a form of zeolith. This is similar to akadama, but only much cheaper and it does not decompose. I will take mostly Chabasai (zeolith) this spring fro repoting, having ordered two tons.
Walter
We are searching for proper rough peat. We have find some Klasmann's Lithuanian Peat Moss pH 4-4,5, but I consider that to much acid for olives, phillyreas etc., but not for pines and oaks. This if far away from neutral?! Except this one, we have find Tref's peat moss and white peat supstrate - pH6, but it is not such coarse, as you have suggested that it must be (0-40 mm). Have you any suggestions from this list http://www.klasmann-deilmann.de/index.php?idtop=1035&idsub=1057&artikel=1057?
P.S. No more bad soil mixes here in Croatia, we have pumice on market!!!
Thanks!
Marija,
I would take 80 to 85 % pumice and this:
932 Weißtorf Litauen grobfaserig 0 4.0 - 4.5 grob + faserig
It is true, that the peat is acidic. But it is only 10 to 15 % o f the substrate. and you have to water with tap water!! Your water is very hard and it will neutralize the peat at every watering. I would not add anything else but peat. This is not soil, it is substrate!
You have to water on a regular basis and agressively so. You also have to use feed on a regular basis, like every ten days or two weeks. I use common commercial liquid feed as is sold for garden and household plants.
Walter
Thanks! :-)
Walter, how much approximately does coast 'Maxit', 'Fibotherm'(50 l bag) in Germany?
Pawel,
a 50 liter bag costs around 18 to 20 euro if you want just one or two. If you buy them wholesale for building, of course, the price is much less, like closer to 10 euro.
Walter
I have one question about this Chabasai (zeolith) which you ordered two tons. Do you know Walter what origin is this zeolith? Is it from Slovakia or from Mexico? On the website I can't find this information. But this is very important for me, so if you know, please tell me about it.
Pawel,
I have no clue and I don't care about such things.
Walter
I don't know why you think that you shouldn't care about this. There are several types of zeolith. Every contains different quantity of clinoptilolite. This is important because clinoptilolite create porosity, porous structure. When in zeolith is more than 80% clinoptilolite that is good. On the website is that information but I don't believe this. I found scientific study about zeolith and I assure you that the origin of zeolith is very important. If you can, please find out about this.
I certainlky have better things to do. You are overestimating the impoortance of exact details of substrate enormously. I can assure you that this does not matter in day to day practice like it does not matter to know the EXACT ingredients of what you are eating every day.
Walter
Walter,
thank you for sharing your soil secret! I have been searching for a cheap alternative to akadama for some time now.
I will check the all the bauzentrum around Trier this weekend.
Thanks again,
Michael
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