Mirai blog on watering

[leatherback]

In the end, I do not believe substrate is the key thing that most make it to be. I feel my trees are not being held back by substrate choices.

 

[Baku1875]

in hardcore rainy climates, akadama is not an asset. One needs to use what they need to use. I have become a big fan of pumice, bark, and ordered kiryu as a go between.
it so happens that the climate that many bonsai influencers live in (japan, oregon, california, etc) have a 'ride or die' approach with akadama, which can be lethal in florida and the netherlands.

like with any scientific application, one needs to think, and apply experimentation to arrive at logical conclusions. I am not an akadama fan.

 

[Pspsy]

Correct me if I am wrong, but nobody here has suggested using a digital scale to learn about your plants' water usage. It's an easy way to help calibrate your intuition.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

In the end, I do not believe substrate is the key thing that most make it to be. I feel my trees are not being held back by substrate choices.

Interesting.
Can you elaborate with examples highlighting your thoughts?
cheers
DSD sends

 

[leatherback]

Can you elaborate with examples highlighting your thoughts?

Not with examples. But I can elaborate. I feel that many people hold themselves back. When trees die, the substrate was wrong. If the internodes are long, the substrate is not right. Not flowering? Substrate. Azalea performing poorly: Substrate.

In most cases however, the skills / experience of the individual is causing the problems. Trees will grow well in pretty much any substrate.. And I have seen good bonsai growing in substrate from potting soil and ground up brick or hydro-clay-eplleter, to full on akadama/pumice blend. It is up to the grower to know how to adjust your watering & fertilizer. Considering how we use the natural ability of plants to grow miniature leaves and compact branches in times of scarce resources, I believe even the refinement stage does not need special substrate, but a proper use of container size, reduced fertilizer and timely pruning to get to where we want to go.

Add to that that most hobbiests, myself included, do not have high quality trees but only play in the sideline, I feel substrate is not the key to success. Some substrates make some aims perhaps easier to achieve, but for most hobby level growers, substrate is not going to create better trees.

This might be different if you have design, pruning, watering, fertilizing all under control and are pushing refinement on top quality trees.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Beginning with garden dirt progress to pumice over 60 plus years and rarely need to check condition of pot substrate. Still difficult to translate to beginner. More often others "advice" only confuses. Best personal advice is never use crapadama.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Beginning with garden dirt progress to pumice over 60 plus years and rarely need to check condition of pot substrate. Still difficult to translate to beginner. More often others "advice" only confuses. Best personal advice is never use crapadama.

Gosh, is this when a watering thread turns to soil wars?
cheers
DSD sends

 

[August]

Gosh, is this when a watering thread turns to soil wars?
cheers
DSD sends

Aren't all water wars also soil wars? And vice versa?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Yes depending upon the boundaries of the discussion… yet one might more properly extend this thought to add fertilizer and complete the ‘Water Pall horticultural triangle’….

… all revolve around maintaining, improving or degrading the health of a species of tree in a certain type of pot…

… yet the human factor is the key. More properly the basic horticultural knowledge and gestalt each caregiver acquires about each species they work with …and how this ‘package’ is put into actual practice …considering one’s personal constraints and limitations.

Yet focusing hard on a single leg can be very useful. While mastering this leg, the interconnections between the other legs become clearer and helps fosters ones personal improvement.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Scorpius]

If you use substrate and it holds onto a lot of water and you water once a day and your tree dies, was it the daily watering or the water holding substrate? You can argue both ways.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

If you use substrate and it holds onto a lot of water and you water once a day and your tree dies, was it the daily watering or the water holding substrate? You can argue both ways.

Hmm…It was the hobbyist!
Best
DSD sends

 

[leatherback]

If you use substrate and it holds onto a lot of water and you water once a day and your tree dies, was it the daily watering or the water holding substrate? You can argue both ways.

Nope, only one way. The person watering should adjust the care fitting to the conditions. Substrate just is.