Bonsai Soil Basics 

Soils mentioned in this video: - Peat Moss - Turface - Pumice - Akadama - Lava - Kamuna

As someone who is just getting started with bonsai, this video perfectly explains everything I needed to know about bonsai basics. Thank you!

Outstanding thorough substrate explanation. High quality production. No sales pitch...just an outstanding review of different components and the purpose and impact of each.

I am 100% new to Bonsai (and a senior). This information you presented is rich and very well defined. I very much appreciate the in depth details of what and how to make and use the perfect blend for the Bonsai. Thank you,

Absolutely awesome video! Very informative. I only started looking into Bonsai a few days ago. So starting out at the age of 22!

Just starting out as a retired senior looking for a new hobby. thanks for the great videos

Great video on Bonsai soil and Jason made it very easy to understand.

Excellent! Very helpful clarification that I have not seen otherwise in various books about bonsai soil considerations. Local climate affects soil component choice--especially as I just got a Chinese elm from Eastern Leaf and I live in Sou Calif. Thanks!

You have a great channel going on here. Eagerly waiting for more from across the pond here in Portugal. I have a chinese elm and loved the video you did on that species. Congratulations

Thank you so much for the information. I am totally new at Bonsai and that was one of 2 things I couldn't not find information on. The other thing is about fertilization and the type of fertilizers. Would you consider a video about this topic? I'm new at this and maybe is a silly question but nevertheless an honest one. Love the way you explain things. Will watch all your videos. Thank you.

I have those ivar shelves in my library! And awesome vid, I feel more confident making a soil mix now.

Love this guy. Helps you understand the concept

Thank you! I honestly have been trying to find a decent video like this!

Thanks for sharing. I use basic soil from Dollar Store for my bonsai. It works in Ontario, Canada where I live. My plants are growing as expected. I am new in bonsai hobby - maybe for the last two years. I water every other day or so - depending on the plant type. Some plant even go 2-4 weeks before watering. I fertilise them as pre level of the container. I placed some outside under full sun but some inside bit away from direct sun (depending on verities). The reason I was watching this video is to understand my own need. And I learned a lot. So, I have a question, don't the plants need any soil at all? From where plant get nutrition?

Lots of good information, thanks, great video.

Excellent presentation!!!

This video is very helpful. I just got into bonsai last month after finding a Japanese Mountain Maple or just a Japanese Maple with red tips im not sure yet but its growing in the side of my house. It's a very narrow walkway between my house and cedar hedges. So it's just growing floating roots above black garden mesh but under the pine leaves. The dirty under is so compact. I've bought all this stuff and Im going to pot it next week because its just sitting on top of the Earth. So I really dont think I can damage it because I wont cut any roots there roots are barely there. But one root I placed over a largeish rock and now the tree will have a (in several years) nambae (the japanese term for strong showing roots at the base of the truck) over a rock. On the subject of color. I got some Kanuma and I read it has a nicer color when wet. So you can use it on the top. Im not sure if Ill do that. But maybe I will have a tiny bit more at the top instead of Akadame. So in a 25L pot around 18 inches wide at the top. I got Akadama, Kanuma, Pumice, Black and Red Lava Rock, And some LECA clay balls. I bought all of this from etsy from this seller called Lulutheherbilina. I also got some bigger clay balls from Mountain Nursery and I used that for several inches of the bottom. I was generous with it because the pot is so deep compared to the trees root ball. I'm sure I'll be fine. I was looking for some coconut husk or something but Ill just use this Orchid Root Spaghnum Moss instead of Peat. So Spahgnum Moss, Akadama, Kanuma, Pumice, Black and Red Lava Rocks, two brands of LECA Clay with one larger for a thick drainage layer for the slightly to deep of a pot. Im so excited to see what happens to this little Japanese Maple that so happy just to be growing in this little ally. But it's not a good place for it, it's not getting direct sun which is fine for it now but later it wont. The soil is so thick. Theres so many pine needles which the acidic-ness isn't so bad but that's all it is. And below that is impact dirt. I've removed the black mesh that was preventing the root from growing over the passed 2-3 weeks. I've cleared some of the pine needles and replaced with peat moss and spahgnum moss. I'm trying not to change it's environment but the roots were literally floating in air under the pine needles, but over this black mesh. And now since I've tended to it the secondary main root I placed over a rock is much happier. It's gripping very tight to the rock and growing down around it into the dirty. It's a very happy little root. So I'm going to dig up the dirt around it and then place that into the pot. Then I'll put my new mixture around it. So the tree will grow into the new mixture from the old. I think It's going to be an amazing tree.

Good bonsai content is hard to find. Just as akadamal has all of the 3 essential soil elements so do all of Jason's videos for bonsai training: solid information, easy to understand and also fun to watch. I wish you would post more.Thank you for sharing

Great advice. Awesome shirt!

Another Excellent Video. If possible could You do videos on Chinese Maple and Olives. Pruning and Wiring.

thank you very much for sharing knowledge about bonsai growing media, very useful for the fertility of bonsai plants 💝🙏🙏

I looked up pumice in the middle of your video and there are a lot more options now. Back a couple of years I had to break up my our big chunks. I even see where you sell small bags of all these different components. Good deal.

Ten years now I've been trying to learn good bonsai techniques, and soil has foiled me time, and time again. All my trees were in need of repotting this year, and I just went through the process, with what I was hoping was a better soil mix. I now feel I have again, gotten this wrong and will probably loose trees. I think my soil is better this year then years past, but not ideal. I had let my trees grow out for the past 2 years to try to overcome my bad techniques in past pruning, and because each year I repot, I loose trees. I will admit, soil mixes can be as varied as opinions....depending on who you talk to. The basics pretty much dont change, but what and how much to use, can vary quite a bit depending on the teacher...I have yet to be entirely successful with my mixes. Great video, I am also a customer....subscribed.

Very helpful. Thank you for the tips 😀

This was really helpful, I just made do with what I could find in my backyard :') I gotta invest more thought into this so thank you!

excellent video, thanks for the info!

It's a bit more well known now but for those in the UK, Tesco low dust cat litter in the purple bag is brillant. Mix it with a bit of lava or pumice and it suits the environment perfectly. It's also cheap as well and would recommend it to everyone in the UK

Thanks so much ❤️ That’s very helpful

A great intro to bonsai soils commonly used :)

I liked this video. It was clear and straight forward and easy to hear and see. But check this out folks - I found some Akadama in my backyard AND SO CAN YOU !!!. I dug down to the hardpan or "caliche'" layer, dug it up and then "fired" it in my home oven. The oven has a self-cleaning setting that heats up to it's max at about 650 degrees. I put in some trays of dirt from my backyard (which is basically clay dirt clods). Then let it do it's cycle which takes about 45 minutes. Then I take it out and break it down to size with hammers. It has worked just fine for me. Not expensive. No mystery. Akadama is just compacted clay soil that has been heated. Same processes that nature uses in Japan.

very helpful. excellent video ❤😊

Bonsai mix, particularly the rocky ones, are amazing for Lithops.

Great Vid, lots of tips to take 👌👌💕

nice video.... very informative...please label the types of soil... so i can start looking for them thanks a lot i like your videos.....thanks so much

Thank You so much! I was stressing over oregon climate

Great Video! Thanks 🌿🌱🖤

Great quality video! Thank you so much for the information. I've been trying to find out a lot about soil mixes lately, but I find there aren't too many that go over all the details and explanations as to why. The only question I still have is on perlite. I've heard it brought up many times but still don't know much about it and was hoping you'd go over it. Right now I'm just assuming it plays a similar role to pumice.

Love the background from pots :D

Great video

In my experience pumice is good and cheap BUT it's also the first substrate to grow algae. Lava rock is my favourite aswell, it's also re-useable many times and it looks the best in the pot, second comes Kyodama.

I’d use the pumice liberally in the hidden substrate, and use more of the lava mix for the top soil for the esthetic.

Ever tried using eco complete? It’s an aquarium plant substrate. Its lava rock with a lot of nutrients. You can usually find a bag at petco.

Good video. Several months new to Bonsai. Zone 9, ca and I am still not quite sure of the basic mixtures. I guess it is up to me to research what that would be for this area. Thanks for the video.

Hi Jason, excellent video. thanks so much for sharing. I have question about sifting the mix. I know akadama you have to sift. How about Lava, pumice, turface etc??? thank you.

EXCELENTE VIDEO GRACIAS. te sigo desde España y amo los bonsai,lo malo es que el traductor de youtube va muy mal y es erroneo ,si pudieras editar los videos en español seria lo maximo ,pedirte por favor un video sobre acer palmatum o algun caduco. un saludo y de nuevo garcias 👍🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

Thank you for the well explained soil mixes ,what about vermiculite, is this suitable?

Thank you very much for this clear and educational video. In what percentage is each one used for a normal mixture? Greetings from Spain. (or depending on whether it is for deciduous/perennial/coniferous/flower-fruit...., etc...and I live in a warm climate with little rain) 😅 THANKS!!

Nice explanation!

Hello Jason, nice and understandable video! ThanksDo you know what the differece is between kiryu, pumis and bims? Is it the acidity or amount of drainage?

a little mistake is that akadama is not fired clay. on the other side I just use a 1cm thick layer of akadama as the top layer because it looks the best and the top always dries up the fastest and retains a bit more water that way and has a good indicator of the dryness as well as helping with moss too

great video, watch your channel a lot, keep it up. a question I sometimes hear people say that you always have to make sure that everything about the same guy has to be big. for example: akadama 3-5mm. in combination with 1-2mm zeolite is not don, because you always have to use the same grain size. what do you think?

Thank you; good info! I scanned through the 198 previous comments but did not see an answer to my question. -- which is that while your 3 basics comprise an optimum soil mix, I was surprised to see that nutrients was not included. Afterall, a plant's roots intake more than hydration. What about soil nourishment?

Pumice if fantastic, great for collected yamadori too. Surprised you dont use any chipped bark in your mix, I'm in Scotland so we gets a lot of rain

Great tuorial. Thank you.

This is super awesome. Thank you for explaining how to customize them according the the climate and plant. Are there better ways of crushing lava rock than to hammer it up? We don't really have small sized lava rock in my area.

Awesome job. Love the video, just a question I live in Dominican republic. And here the weather is very Hume and hot , I'm not sure which one of those soil will be good for me.vcan ya help me with this?

When repotting, and you are going to use a previously used pot, is it a good idea to sterilize pot, with a touch of bleach. I’m using an un glazed pot in zone 9. I love your training sessions. I order all my bonsai stuff from you guys. Thank You Nazaire Tetreault

You should do a video on fertilizing!

Hi jason,your video is informative. Im also trying to be one of the bonsai artish but im so fail to grow pine n juniper bonsai im in asia NEPAL what kinda soil mix shoud i use for pine n junipers??

I've heard pumice and akidoma are closer then most people give count to in the way they react over time and in water retention... just what I've heard and in my opinion pumice is going to be a way better cheaper choice for most novices like myself, this is one of the best videos on the topic I have seen on RU-vid! Thank you, 🥃cheese🍻

Great information thanks. For an upcoming video, let’s agree that the Akadama and lava are the perfect mix in your 2 to 1 ratio. It’s time to repot a shimpaku and it’s currently in an organic mix of likely lots of peat and bark or you dug it out of the earth in a lot of forest mix. Do you completely remove all the old mix? If not, how much would you leave?

Just staring with my bonsai and this was truly helpful! Thank you! 😊

Great video Jason can or should you use a bonsai soil mix with regular house plants ?

I use pumice but I put a top coat of black lava and DE, moss REALLY loves DE and it's a darker color, I just use Pumice/Bark/Composted Manure for my Pre-Bonsai

Thanks for the video. I would like to know the price range of your bonsai pots.

Hey i was thinking about making a soil using Akadama and triple mix. I plan on growing my plants mostly indoor because most of the time its really cold here. We only get good weather from later may to mid september. Since its gonna be dry inside due to the heat i was planning on using that to retain the moisture in the soil using akadama and providing nutrients using the triple mix. Please advice if i can use this to grown: jacaranda mimosifolia, weeping willow and flame tree.

Oh I should add- I'm very very glad you rate scoria (lava rock - you seem to distinguish the terms, so far as I've found - w/ little research mind you!- is they're synonymous) so highly, I do too in fact I hold it higher than akadama (though I don't hold that stuff in high esteem in any case) You mention you like the blacker pieces for their aesthetics- FWIW, the darker scoria tends-towards lower pH, it's pretty minimal but still worth note...further, the darker pieces seem more solid in general IE a random pile of scoria will see more reds in the 'weakest 10%' pile, I know this because, well, I still hand-process scoria from bags of 'Lava Rock Mulch'! It's a PITB but I hold it as #1 like you, I use it alongside perlite - which, if sufficiently coarse, is virtually the same IMO - as my main ingredient, basically I just use scoria&perlite to make the bulk of my mixture, then add diatomite and/or perlite and/or sphagnum and/or peat-sphanum and/or bark and/or coconut coir *as-needed* based on the obvious reasons (more WHC, far better CEC especially in tan sphagnum & bark), for my semi-tropical FL enviro it's perfect, summer mixes have higher% perlite/scoria, winter mixes have more diatomite/sphagnum/bark/etc :) Again, thank you for the videos, it's really legit/genuine to do what you're doing and in recognition of you & others who do this I'm intending to do the same myself now, have decided to 'take the dive', am newer to the hobby but have been a sponge since starting (it's what my non-work-life revolves around daily lol :D ) Kudos and keep the videos coming!!! Also I hope business is well, if I were in a better spot I'd be seeking the most expensive tools on your site & adamaskwhy's site (or get them on Amazon and wire $ via Patreon if you've got it setup- my thought is that bonsai people like you absolutely should, there's a higher% of wealthy people in this hobby and I don't see it as at all unlikely for someone w/ that type of disposable income to see a good video series, offered for free, and then contribute what they consider fair (I'd do that myself if I could, can't imagine I'm that much an outlier here!) Hope '19 is a great year for you & your nursery/business!!!!

Cool, thank you sir

What mix ratio would you recommend for the pete moss/turfis mix for an indoor bonsai - dry climate outside -

another awesome and informative video Jason, can I come work for you? lol. With the aggregate soils now explained, could you show us some common feeding products and intervals for conifers? If trees don't get any nourishment from the aggregate, then it would be great to know more about what to feed, and when. thanks!

Hi Jason - Need your advice. I've just gotten a 4-5 year old fraxinus excelsior, which looks great and I see great potential in. Although I'm experienced in soil mixes for fx Junipers, I'm unsure about the ideal mix for fraxinus excelsior. Any advice? Thanks!!

suggestions for sequoia bonsai? climate is hot as hell in the summer, cold as the arctic in winter -

Are you toning to make more videos like on dead wood or maybe explaining some terms and techniques

I have clean sand, perlite, peat moss and small pea stone. Sound like a good enough mix?

We seem to not have any standard materials for bonsai where I live. So I ended up mixing one part vermiculite, one part clay hydrograin, and one part pottingsoil/bark mix. Do you think this will do for a ficus? I just slip potted into this mix as the previous soil was retaining way too much water. Edit: I live in Scandinavia

What do you think about pine bark fines as an organic component? It seems very common, vs peat seems a lot less common due to washing out.

I have a question can I use 1 parts cococoir 2 parts spaghnum moss and 1 parts sand 1/4 parts worm castings it has all those key factors and alot of nutrients

I went to the hospital for a week here in South Louisiana, and everything on my juniper started drying. I ended up reviving it just fine, but then over watered it. So I'm trying to bring it back now and it's getting brown. What can I do?

Thanku sir...more than that I like Ur pots🥰..in Kerala not getng lava stone ..anyway good information 👍 a bonsai lover from kerala

What type of soil would you recommend when growing seedlings?

It is great video! Can I buy the ingredients in Southern California. I live in San Diego. Thanks

I just potted a couple trees in regular soil should I repot them with different more soil or leave them alone for a while and let the roots grow?

Thanks yesterday bro for the bonsai")Im happy

Hi. Love your videos! Quick question- so techincally what youre saying is, with an optimal soil mix, it is possible to grow any species of Bonsai indoors? I have a grow light area in my living space but no access to an outside garden area.

I bought a soil just for bonsai from my local shop, can I use that?

What kind of soil mix would you recommend for juniper in Texas. It's 37 years old, I bought it 2 years ago and it originally had seeds growing on it. Since then it hasn't produced any, and I've noticed more foliage falling on it as well. I thinned it out 2 times in order to let sunlight go through tree. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Do you have any ideas of what I should do?

Jason: how about using perlite along with say a 30% akadama, 50% lava and 10% peat and 10% perlite? Is Perlite a good moisture holder??

I used aquarium fired clay substrate, peat moss, pearlite with miracle grow infusion, and a bit of activated charcoal. Good? No good? Literally just planted my first bonsai. Hope it works out!

I live in central Florida. North of Tampa on the coast. It’s humid but doesn’t rain everyday. What should I use. I have mine outside and I think it’s peat moss and perlight.

Question: someone who knows little about bonsai just bought me one already potted. How do I figure out which mix I have? It looks mostly like peat moss, but more like just general garden soil you could buy at Lowe’s. Are these the same? Is this a problem? My bonsai is a juniper by the way

beginner bonsai buyer. ask the person i bought from how he cared for them and told him i sprayed them with a food stray everyother day. he said great. but i had two of them get soft on the inside and rooted. do you have any suggestions? am i underwatering? they get sun. thank you i bought small, medium and large bonsai the trees with flowers

What do you think about clay granulate as a component for bonsai soil?

super appreciate this video 😍...Where to purchase is the question

Where can i buy a good and cheap bonsai pot here in socal?? Also turface in my area is little bit tiny.. where can i buy a good turface?

Hello, I'm in San Luis Obispo, Ca so similar weather. I'm going to give the Lava and Peet Moss a try. Do you sift your Peet Moss to remove the fine particles?

Does crushed or decomposed granite provide minerals or any nutritional value to the soil, or is it just grit for drainage?

We recently bought a traditional bonsai tree, the seller gave us a small tub of pellets , he did not speak English very well . He did his best trying to explain how often to use the pellets, but we didn’t catch a word lol. So how often do we need to put the pellets in? Also at the top of the tree some of the leaves are turning brow. We water it and put it outside for 5 hours or more. Hope you can help me. Thanks

How do you know if you've got the right balance? I Don't plan on working on more then one or two bonsai and I'm worried I might end up over watering it.

can I use hydronic clay ball+ pumice + stone chip +lava rock.?

I have a ton of perlite, white and unsightly like pumice, is it good to use as well? What's your thoughts on kitty litter (diatomaceous earth)