Bonsai Tonight

[markyscott]

For those of you who don't know Jonas or aren't familiar with his blog you're missing one of the best ones around. There are a few I read regularly and his is one. Here's the link:

https://bonsaitonight.com

And if you don't know his blog, you also don't know that he's expanded his blog into a business and has opened an online store.

https://store.bonsaitonight.com

I just received a pallet of soil components from him. He sells Clay King, Akadama, and pumice. Some friends and I split a pallet of Clay King and pumice purchased at a fair price. It was excellently well packed, very good quality, and he shipped immediately. His pumice is close to perfect - no fines, dry and no waste. The bulk price for pumice was $14/bag for 50-56 40 pound bags loaded on a pallet. Shipping was $215 to Houston. All in, that was $17.85 - $18.30 per bag - a very reasonable price for a really good quality product. Wee Tree beats the price by a couple of dollars a bag, but their pumice is about 30% fines - Jonas' is 0% fines. He's made a new customer out of me. I'd encourage you to give him a try.

In addition to soil, Jonas sells some tools, books and supplies. I encourage you to give him a try.

 

[AlainK]

Very good link, you can subscribe to his newsletter posted twice a week.

 

[JoeR]

What does a 40 lb bag convert to in gallons?


And why does it only cost $215 to ship a pallet of rocks but $50 to ship a $40 order of 3" plastic pots from Anderson???

 

[markyscott]

What does a 40 lb bag convert to in gallons?


And why does it only cost $215 to ship a pallet of rocks but $50 to ship a $40 order of 3" plastic pots from Anderson???

40lbs of dry pumice is approximately 7-8 gallons.

Shipping by palletized freight is a completely different price structure than shipping by box from fedex or ups. It's far cheaper, but it comes with some inconveniences. For instance, that price was for delivery to the shipping terminal, not delivery to my door. For an extra fee, you can have it delivered, as long as you have a loading dock and a forklift. If you don't, you need to have a flatbed capable of handling two pallets weighing two tons. You need to be able to drive the flatbed out to the shipping terminal to take delivery. And you need to be able to break down the pallet and distribute it among your friends.

I think the big difference is the time and manpower it takes to load things by box. One guy can load up a palletized shipment in a truck with a forklift in no time. You need a crew to load up a shipment of boxes in a truck - or to palletize them for the forklift person. Then another crew on the receiving end to unload/unpalletize and deliver to your door. That costs more and the costs are propagated to the consumer as always.

It's not a tremendous amount of work - it took a couple of hours to do all of this including driving to and from the terminal. It's only about a hundred bags that need to be moved and between the four of us we got it done quickly. It's by far the cheapest way to go, but you have to have the equipment to move it from the terminal and unload it yourself. I have things shipped by freight all the time. Trees from out of state, for instance, come shipped that way. Earlier this year I took delivery of another California juniper. We had four huge ones on a pallet and shipping was about $150.

 

[crust]

For those of you who don't know Jonas or aren't familiar with his blog you're missing one of the best ones around. There are a few I read regularly and his is one. Here's the link:

https://bonsaitonight.com

And if you don't know his blog, you also don't know that he's expanded his blog into a business and has opened an online store.

https://store.bonsaitonight.com

I just received a pallet of soil components from him. He sells Clay King, Akadama, and pumice. Some friends and I split a pallet of Clay King and pumice purchased at a fair price. It was excellently well packed, very good quality, and he shipped immediately. His pumice is close to perfect - no fines, dry and no waste. The bulk price for pumice was $14/bag for 50-56 40 pound bags loaded on a pallet. Shipping was $215 to Houston. All in, that was $17.85 - $18.30 per bag - a very reasonable price for a really good quality product. Wee Tree beats the price by a couple of dollars a bag, but their pumice is about 30% fines - Jonas' is 0% fines. He's made a new customer out of me. I'd encourage you to give him a try.

In addition to soil, Jonas sells some tools, books and supplies. I encourage you to give him a try.

I bought 2000 lbs of pumice earlier this year from a nondescript supplier in Minnesota . It was a giant pain due to shipping and that the whole transaction had to be done at a commercial level because the supplier did not deal any other way. The pumice came damp/wet and needs significant grading and had a goodly amount that retained on a window screen. My prices after everything were similar but I am definitely going to check out Jonas next time--wish he had lava too.I see his web site listed prices are pretty high though.

 

[markyscott]

I bought 2000 lbs of pumice earlier this year from a nondescript supplier in Minnesota . It was a giant pain due to shipping and that the whole transaction had to be done at a commercial level because the supplier did not deal any other way. The pumice came damp/wet and needs significant grading and had a goodly amount that retained on a window screen. My prices after everything were similar but I am definitely going to check out Jonas next time--wish he had lava too.I see his web site listed prices are pretty high though.

His listed prices are by the bag. Send him an email to get a bulk price quote - that's always the cheapest way to go. The numbers I gave were the quote I received. The Wee Tree lava ($399/ton + shipping) is pretty good quality - I like it better than their pumice. Alternatively, you can try Beam Clay ($375/ton + shipping) - they sell by the pallet as well. You might check both of them out for a bulk supplier - the price difference will be in the shipping. Not sure if it's cheaper to ship from the east coast (Beam Clay) or the west coast (Wee Tree) to Minnesota.

I like the Clay King - I cut it with his pumice, screen out the dust and I'm good to go. I think he's out of Clay King at the moment, but he's expecting another container to be shipped this summer. He told me he has pumice and straight akadama available now.

http://www.beamclay.com/13 - Bonsai.pdf
http://www.weetree.com/bonsai-soil/lava-50-bag-pallet/

 

[cmeg1]

Just bought 3 bags of the clay King .
Any rough idea as to the size of clay King small?
I have been eyeballing his store for a couple weeks now.Figured Iget it while the gettin' is good.Have several small trees this should do good.

 

[markyscott]

Just bought 3 bags of the clay King .
Any rough idea as to the size of clay King small?
I have been eyeballing his store for a couple weeks now.Figured Iget it while the gettin' is good.Have several small trees this should do good.

This is the small.

 

[Gilad]

For those of you who don't know Jonas or aren't familiar with his blog you're missing one of the best ones around. There are a few I read regularly and his is one. Here's the link:

https://bonsaitonight.com

And if you don't know his blog, you also don't know that he's expanded his blog into a business and has opened an online store.

https://store.bonsaitonight.com

I just received a pallet of soil components from him. He sells Clay King, Akadama, and pumice. Some friends and I split a pallet of Clay King and pumice purchased at a fair price. It was excellently well packed, very good quality, and he shipped immediately. His pumice is close to perfect - no fines, dry and no waste. The bulk price for pumice was $14/bag for 50-56 40 pound bags loaded on a pallet. Shipping was $215 to Houston. All in, that was $17.85 - $18.30 per bag - a very reasonable price for a really good quality product. Wee Tree beats the price by a couple of dollars a bag, but their pumice is about 30% fines - Jonas' is 0% fines. He's made a new customer out of me. I'd encourage you to give him a try.

In addition to soil, Jonas sells some tools, books and supplies. I encourage you to give him a try.

I bought several boxes of the clay King and my trees are loving it. I also bought from Jonas his fertilizer in tea bags and its great . Super nice guy and highly recommended supplier

 

[Adair M]

Clay King is good stuff. It has akadama and Kanuma in it. Kanuma is similiar to akadama, usually lighter colored, and is more acidic. I plant my azalea in straight kanuma.

I, too, add more pumice to the Clay King. I sift out the fines.

 

[markyscott]

A great post on decandling black pines.

https://bonsaitonight.com/2016/07/22/decandling-black-pine-bonsai-an-overview/

Scott

 

[Adair M]

A great post on decandling black pines.

https://bonsaitonight.com/2016/07/22/decandling-black-pine-bonsai-an-overview/

Scott

Indeed! Jonas provides excellent commentary and pictures.

 

[markyscott]

Every year, the Lone Star Bonsai Federation sponsors an artist that travels to all of the member clubs and gives lectures and demonstrations. This year’s artist is Jonas Dupuich and he visited Houston tonight. Over the weekend he’ll give a series of workshops to our club membership. Jonas is the real deal and a great teacher and lecturer. Around 50 club members spent their Friday night with Jonas - his demonstration was entertaining, engaging and educational. Really fun and insightful evening. Hope you all get the chance to work with him.

 

[Shima]

And...he has the best price I've ever seen on big heavy-duty mica turntables. I've wanted some for years but couldn't justify the expense. Now I have many!

 

[augustine]

We bought several tons of pumice from Jonas, like MarkyScott stated, very clean and no waste. Couldn't have been better and he is a great man with which to do business.

 

[namnhi]

Every year, the Lone Star Bonsai Federation sponsors an artist that travels to all of the member clubs and gives lectures and demonstrations. This year’s artist is Jonas Dupuich and he visited Houston tonight. Over the weekend he’ll give a series of workshops to our club membership. Jonas is the real deal and a great teacher and lecturer. Around 50 club members spent their Friday night with Jonas - his demonstration was entertaining, engaging and educational. Really fun and insightful evening. Hope you all get the chance to work with him.

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Ah I missed it.

 

[Paradox]

I've been subscribed to his newsletter for at least a year now. Its great.

I wish I could do bulk ordering like that but no one in my clubs want to use the "expensive" soil so cant cut expense that way and I think shipping to me might still be prohibitive for me to do pallets of each component. Wish I could get a pallet with 1/3 pumive, 1/3 lava and 1/3 akadama.

 

[markyscott]

I've been subscribed to his newsletter for at least a year now. Its great.

I wish I could do bulk ordering like that but no one in my clubs want to use the "expensive" soil so cant cut expense that way and I think shipping to me might still be prohibitive for me to do pallets of each component. Wish I could get a pallet with 1/3 pumive, 1/3 lava and 1/3 akadama.

He might mix a pallet. Give him a call.


S

 

[bonsai-ben]

That is a killer price on the turtables. I was going to buy ten for three times that price from the learning center in NC. Thank you!

 

[mcpesq817]

I've bought from Jonas before too - he's a really great vendor, and incredibly helpful in passing along his knowledge through his blog and otherwise. Highly recommend him for soil and other needs.