AusBonsai

Yea I decided to change the soil and mix akadama and pumice with it.

That cat litter has a lot of fines and definitely needs sifted and washed before use.

After a couple of days the cat litter in water still looks ok. Small fragments stay hard.
Did a little water retention test:
Scoria (5 - 10 mm) holds 15% of its mass when wet.
Diatomite 51%
Cat litter 51%
I use mine with pine bark and scoria anyway, not on its own, so i am thinking it may be worth trying.
I have some in the freezer to check for breaking down (not that I think I get weather cold enough for that to be an issue for me). Will post results in a couple of days.

Does this stuff have any fragrances or disinfectants of any kind added to it?

treeman wrote: ↑February 1st, 2021, 7:35 am Does this stuff have any fragrances or disinfectants of any kind added to it?

Nope, the pack lists the ingredients as 100% zeolite.

I thawed the frozen sample of cat litter and it seemed as hard as before.
I haven't smelled any perfumes or anything else.
I haven't got the reagents to pH check it. Some diatomite had issues with high pH (alkaline).
So far looks promising.

Hi Stu, just wondering if you know how water retention for pumice compares to zeolite? Anecdotally, the Woollies zeolite seems to stay wetter longer but don’t know this for a fact. Trying to figure out if these are interchangeable.

Cheers,
Harshad

It looks suitable to use with bonsai to me. It goes very dusty and chalky when dry and has shari loads of fines and the odd chunk of clay that turns to mush. I think you loose at least 30% in fines and clay that just washes away.

this stuff needs to be properly sifted and washed before use .

Very muddy when wet. That the clay stuff u need to wash off


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It is about 1/3 fines.. so it has to be sifted.

Harshadg wrote: ↑February 2nd, 2021, 9:54 am Hi Stu, just wondering if you know how water retention for pumice compares to zeolite? Anecdotally, the Woollies zeolite seems to stay wetter longer but don’t know this for a fact. Trying to figure out if these are interchangeable.

Cheers,
Harshad

I haven't used pumice so can't help with that sorry.

Paulneill wrote: ↑February 2nd, 2021, 10:44 am It looks suitable to use with bonsai to me. It goes very dusty and chalky when dry and has shari loads of fines and the odd chunk of clay that turns to mush. I think you loose at least 30% in fines and clay that just washes away.

this stuff needs to be properly sifted and washed before use .

I currently soak my diatomite in a bucket for a bit before use and discard the fines at the bottom so I would continue to do this if I used this product.

Grainer wrote: ↑February 2nd, 2021, 11:32 am It is about 1/3 fines.. so it has to be sifted.

I did a quick and nasty 1-2mm sieve (fly screen) of the 1 bag I bought and got about 250 ml fines (~ 1/60). More loss would come from rinsing but still I it is no worse than my diatomite (Mt Sylvia Kleensorb).

Harshadg wrote: ↑January 29th, 2021, 7:39 am For what its worth, I used this 80% + 20% pine bark to grow out tridents and japanese maples (I'm trying to grow them out in a clump style like in the Eisei-en video so the trunks fuse) in a square pond basket. In both cases the roots started poking out of the baskets within months. At least for these two species, this proportion seems to work in my experience.

Yea Mate, that technique produces amazing results but takes a seriously long time. 15 years and it was still far from being fully developed. Do you think this would work with small gum tree whips?

I don’t have the experience to answer your question. I’m a beginner with only about a years worth of focused effort on this hobby. Just trying out different things.

I guess I’d be looking into whether they might be likely to fuse if grown together for a long time to try to achieve the thick base and clump look.

Maybe someone else here has the answer.

Cheers.

Harshadg wrote: ↑January 29th, 2021, 7:39 am For what its worth, I used this 80% + 20% pine bark to grow out tridents and japanese maples (I'm trying to grow them out in a clump style like in the Eisei-en video so the trunks fuse) in a square pond basket. In both cases the roots started poking out of the baskets within months. At least for these two species, this proportion seems to work in my experience.

I really appreciate these forums for stuff like this. I was searching around for ideas on potting mix, because I wanted to grow exactly what you mentioned - the clump style maples.

I ended up buying a square pond basket, but wasn't sure about my mix until I saw your post. I'm pretty confident to use the same ingredients now.

I wonder, 6 months on from then, how is your clump style going? And which Japanese maple variety did you end up clumping together? I'm thinking of going with Shin-Deshojo for my first one (+ trident maple too if I can get enough air layers).

I tried this for the first time a year ago - the stuff is incredible.

You hear it absorbing the water.

I’ve been driving out different sizes.

I use the larger pieces for the base and mix in the medium with grit/pumice/scoria and pine nuggets.

I’ve found that the trees love it reflected in finer roots. There’s also less weeds.

I’m not game enough to try on “bonsais”. Only trees that In training that if I lost them I’d only be a little bit sad. Azaleas, junipers and maples seem extra happy with the zeolite.

The super fines seem to be great to mix with sand for rooting cuttings.

It’s pretty expensive relative to other products, however am happy with results.