每日吃瓜

Hello, I live in Bucharest Romania where our climate is temperate continental and I wish to replant my trees these days. I have a Chinese Elm, a Hornbeam and a Ficus, all 3 of them are over 5-6 years old. I have at my disposal akadama, pumice, pine bark and maybe some pumice. What do you think would be a good mixture?

There are as many ideas of good substrate as there are bonsai artists. The best substrate is not only adapted to the species and your climate, but also pretty much to your care regime. Everyone has to experiment to find what suits them best.

In my opinion akadama is just overpriced mud that dont add anything in my climate and care. It may be good in Japan where it is cheap and they have dry winters and humid summers. But not here where it is totally oposite I dont use any of it anymore.

My current mix is based on the fact that I protect my trees from excess rain and humidity in winter. I can keep much more water retaining materials than other people can due to that. And I dont have to water every day except for just a few weeks in the peak of the summer which suits me well.

So I use in my mix:
For water recension, a burnt clay based material made for sucking up oil spills on workshop floors and sifted bark mulch. That makes up the biggest portion of the mix. And I add for extra airation and drainage pumice and mini leca clayballs.

The exact proportions is not set in stone. It depends a little bit on tree species and size of pot.

In any case, no matter how you make your mix will affect the care you need to give your tree. So some triad and error will be needed. I have been doing this for 5 years only and are still experimenting and learning.

Good luck!

the problem with akadama, know that it disintegrates too quickly and can't be reused over time, pine bark and pumice stone, that's good, you can also add pozzolan, volcanic stone red you can find some or even add 10% compost soil, after that it's up to you to test the mixes you can make