New better Product on the market to replace Akadama

[Maiden69]

I would not so quick to jump to conclusions. The CEC in Akadama is also not high (and does not particularly need to be) I have used it mixed with other materials on various things (including some cacti) and I have not observed much in the way of negative results. I will know more when I look at the roots this spring.
The pH probably need to be considered when using it. As a stand-alone product, it will have it's limitations because of this.

You are talking about akadama, or Sakadama? Because they are not the same at all... Sakadama is high fired, negating all the benefits of akadama. Bjorn was refering to Sakadama when he said that it was garbage.

There are a lot of studies about it, below a few including @markyscott document in the resources are here.

Introductory Soil Physics - Updates

www.bonsainut.com

Introductory soil physics

Questions about soil physics come up all the time and I find that I repeat myself a lot on this topic. I'm going to try and write a reference for folks to refer to on this topic. I'm expressly NOT going to offer you any advice on what soil you should use in your garden, whether you should use...

www.bonsainut.com

https://www.sandiegobonsaiclub.com/uploads/2/4/0/4/24046255/soil_its_what_goes_in_the_pot.pdf

The big advantage of Akadama is that roots can grow through the parcels as well as between them, which vastly increases the amount of space in the pot that is available to the roots. Once roots penetrate Akadama particles they become fine and highly ramified, forming a dense pad of functioning feeding tips. When you foist use Akadama the result is really quite astonishing compared to most other media. Although Akadama has a relatively low cec (around 18-20 meq/100g) the fact that the roots are so prolifically generated means that this is not a defect. Some growers complain that Akadama readily breaks down into much smaller particles and therefore impedes drainage, but they are not watching closely enough. Certainly it does break down, but this only means that the pore spaces become smaller, not that they disappear altogether. Since Akadama is not a clay, but a kind of cohesive sandy structure, it still drains efficiently after several years in use just as sand would. The big draw back? Cost: at the time of writing even lower grade Akadama is priced at over $50 per bag (compared with $18-$20 a few years ago). I can understand why it has become more expensive in recent years, but I cannot comprehend why it is almost three times as expensive in the USA than in Europe. (Note House of Bonsai $25 a bag)