Is it possible to use cat litter for bonsai soil?

[bonsaiboy60077]

Is it possible to use cat litter for bonsai soil? a friend of mine wants to give me like 2 5 pound bags of it, which if I cannot use it for bonsai soil. I kinda have no use for.

 

[RJG2]

No.

Cat litter in the US is not suitable. There are brands in Europe that are 100% diatomaceous earth, which is suitable - but stuff here contains too many weird things.

If you want to try cheap diatomaceous earth - get Floor Dry from Napa - part number 8822.

 

[bonsaiboy60077]

I may have some of that in the garage.

 

[Lorax7]

I saw some kitty litter at Meijer the other day that had no added fragrances or anything else. The ingredient list had clay as the only item in the list. I was thinking I’d do an experiment at some point, although obviously this would need to be done with some seedlings or cuttings so that if it goes poorly and kills them, it’s a minor rather than major tragedy.

Has anyone experimented with the unscented Meijer brand kitty litter?

 

[penumbra]

Every so often someone posts about the kitty litter issue and says they are going to experiment. I have yet to hear any positive reviews.

 

[Lorax7]

I bought some of the Meijer brand “Light Weight Unscented Multi-Cat Scoop Litter” at the grocery store this evening. The only ingredient listed on the label is “ground clay”. After opening the container and taking a look inside, one thing is clear: if this stuff is at all useful for bonsai, it will only be useful for shohin. The particle size is too small for anything else.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Drop a spoonful in a glass of water and see if it turns into clay sludge, most will. It isn’t baked hard enough. There used to be a brand in England that was baked harder and it was popular over there until they company stopped making it.

 

[leatherback]

Drop a spoonful in a glass of water and see if it turns into clay sludge, most will. It isn’t baked hard enough. There used to be a brand in England that was baked harder and it was popular over there until they company stopped making it.

Exactly what I was going to recommend. Within hours you nnormally see this stuff fall apart. Here I know of only 1 brand that uses rocky-materials, instead of dried clay.

 

[Rowbow]

In the UK we get the pink none clumping cat litter from Pets world or Amazon, 10 kg for £13, it turns brown when wet and does not break down into mud, but does retain moisture very well

 

[Nybonsai12]

Do your trees poop? If not, then no.
donate it to the nearest shelter.

 

[Lorax7]

Worst case scenario, if it breaks down quickly, it’ll still be usable for making muck to do slab plantings.

 

[Dav4]

I'd use it to suck the oil drips out of the cement slab in my garage... doesn't belong in my garden.

 

[Lorax7]

If what you have is the scented stuff or has baking soda in it, I would not use it in the garden. I would, however, put a bag of it in the trunk of the car during winter. Kitty litter can be quite useful to provide some traction to help you get unstuck if your vehicle gets stuck in the snow.

 

[Bnana]

My standard mix is kitty litter with a bit of bark. The kitty litter (called Linda Moler) is moler clay, a mix of diatomaceous earth and clay that has been fired and is quite coarse. It retains water but drains well.
It is scented but that is easily removed by soaking and rinsing. So leave in a bucket of water for a day and then rinse. It's very stable even when it freezes regularly.
I use is for Cornus, Carpinus, Acer, Larch and they all do well in it.
So yes you can use kitty litter, if you have the right type it's great stuff. But 99% of brands is useless.

 

[Lorax7]

Drop a spoonful in a glass of water and see if it turns into clay sludge, most will. It isn’t baked hard enough. There used to be a brand in England that was baked harder and it was popular over there until they company stopped making it.

Did the test. It turned to sludge.

 

[Bnana]

That is a clear result at least.

 

[FinnLakk]

Drop a spoonful in a glass of water and see if it turns into clay sludge, most will. It isn’t baked hard enough. There used to be a brand in England that was baked harder and it was popular over there until they company stopped making it.

Sanicat still make a clay cat litter that seems to be suitable. Not sure I would use it for older trees in ramification stage, I've been using it for everything I've collected or growing out with a mix of organics in aswell, so far it has survived two winters with out breaking down.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Sanicat still make a clay cat litter that seems to be suitable. Not sure I would use it for older trees in ramification stage, I've been using it for everything I've collected or growing out with a mix of organics in aswell, so far it has survived two winters with out breaking down.

Harry Harrington used to use Tescos' 'Low Dust Lightweight Catlitter' and that is the one that is no longer made AFAIK. So much of the stuff made now has fragrance in it as well as a clumping agent to make it easier to lift out waste. Here’s a link to his discussion of it on his website:

An Introduction to Bonsai Soils – Bonsai4Me

bonsai4me.com

 

[Bnana]

The fragrance is no problem, that's easily washed away and doesn't harm the trees.
The stuff I use doesn't have a clumping agent.

 

[greenfingersnthumbs]

This is pure DE

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