AusBonsai

Hi guys been doing a search and cant seem to find Canarvon river sand or Akadama. Im in northern suburbs of Perth now and tried local nurseries and the big green building but my options are slimming. Anyone know where i can get these from

Pup might be able to explain further, but I beleive Carnarvon River sand is ordered directly from the people who collect/manufacture it, and isn't sold anywhere. Ours is ordered through the club

Akadama is just as hard to find, only bonsai nurseries will sell it and I beleive the only one who does in perth is the Bonsai Emporium, but I'd call to check first to make sure they have it in stock

Thanks Jason. I joined the club recently but havnt got to any meets yet due to med issues. Hope to get to one soon and ill have to organise some materials from there. Cheers James

If your looking for this stuff to make a soil mix, talk to Peter at Bonsai Emporium. He sells his own mix of soil and I reckon it's cheaper than buying the ingredients for your own mix. I live in Australind, and I get 2 50L bins of soil from Peter and that usually lasts me till the next re-potting season. He sells it in 5 and 10kg bags if you only need a little.

Hi
John Di orders Carnarvon river sand in bulk for BSWA, if you ask him really nicely he can bring some to the meeting at the end of the month. He orders in large and small size particles, I think its about $18 per bag, but it might be less cause my memory is terrible.
Peter Odin makes a pretty good mix, but if you want to try mixing your own you may as well get the benefits of being a BSWA member
Megan.

Akadama is available though a member of the Bonsai workshop inc from $18 a bag. Carnarvon river sand is as Megan says from a member of the Bonsai society of WA at $ 13 a bag.

Cheers Pup

fishurgutsout wrote:Thanks Jason. I joined the club recently but havnt got to any meets yet due to med issues. Hope to get to one soon and ill have to organise some materials from there. Cheers James

No worries at all mate, feel free to drop any of us a line if you have any questions on the club (a couple of members in this thread) and make sure to join the facebook group we just created if you want to stay in touch

I'm due to get some more river sand, I had a bad episode with ants over the summer. They literally ruined every bag of soil I had

Hi I recommend spongalite and zeolite mix as an alternative to akadama. Been having great results so far I found akadama broke down over time and became a bit sludgy. But that is just my experience
Here is where I sourced my ingredients
http://www.woodvalefishandlilyfarm.com. ... olite.html
Just of wannaroo road.
Jac

Been using Hard Akadama for 10 years with out that problem.
Both other products are fancy names for kitty litter, separated from most dust but you definitely need to sift.
Have had the 3 products analysed, and the answer was all the same just different colouration. By the local shire garden department.

Cheers pup

I used to get Carnavon River Sand from Peter, but haven't needed to get any recently. He used to have it in a wooden stall in the carpark.
If you need it urgently, a lot of aquarium/fishkeeping shops stock it...considerably more expensive though. One that definitely stocks it is Seaview Aquariums on Wanneroo Rd. Westminster.

Cheers!
Anthony

Awesome guys thankyou all for your responces. yeah Jason am a member on facebook page. Will catch up with most of you guys soon at Rober Steven workshop just there to observe. Have surgery couple of days after workshop so limited on funds and getting around for a bit. But after that should be a regular at meets.

fishurgutsout wrote:Awesome guys thankyou all for your responces. yeah Jason am a member on facebook page. Will catch up with most of you guys soon at Rober Steven workshop just there to observe. Have surgery couple of days after workshop so limited on funds and getting around for a bit. But after that should be a regular at meets.

Awesome mate, make sure to give us a yell, always keen to put a face to forum name You can't miss me, I'll be the giant with dreads lol

Pup wrote:Been using Hard Akadama for 10 years with out that problem.
Both other products are fancy names for kitty litter, separated from most dust but you definitely need to sift.
Have had the 3 products analysed, and the answer was all the same just different colouration. By the local shire garden department.

Cheers pup

I might have got some of the soft akadama I have only purchased two bags, both from bonsai emporium one was really quite big pieces of akadama and one was a smaller type. I keep most of my trees in a hot house with high humidity after about a year the larger akadama kind of broke down to a powder, the smaller one has kept its shape well though and I have reused it after sieving.
Jac.