2 line acadama no more ??

Can anyone shed more light on something i was told last week in that the company that produces or exports the nice hard '2 line' brand akadama is either not trading, or not exporting it any more. i'm not sure if this is fact or fiction but it has been trickier getting the large bags of 2 line recently, and i've heard from 2 or 3 sources now that the only akadama available is much softer, virtually returning to clay when it gets wet.

Hi Marcus,

I am having trouble as well getting the hard akadama in my local bonsai store, so I asked around what the reason could be.

First of all, they had the earthquake and the following nuclear meltdown, so anything that is getting shipped over to Europe is getting firmly checked by customs (at least in Rotterdam I know of).
If there is radioactive material in the product, ALL of it is getting sent back to Japan.
Next to that, the quake also destroyed a lot of corporations making bonsai related materials. Totally vanished from the earth.

Second, a lot of other products coming from Japan are also getting send back, like tools and the like.

Third, due to some diseases and bugs, not a lot of trees are getting out of Japan as well, for some time now. Think of maples and pines.

I did manage to score a 15 liter bag of akadama 2 weeks after the quake, set me back 1/3 higher price, and if you look at the online shops, they have little to no stock and what gets sold is above 20 euros (used to be 12-15 euros).
There are some alternatives you can use, I heard about a similar type of soil coming from France, but its way more pricier than akadama.

Hopefully things will recover soon, else everyone outside Japan is kind of screwed.

Recycle your soil if you can

Greets, Remco

ps. I am having a hard time getting black lava as well, which I use in most of my soil as a replacement for Kiryu, anyone know where to get some?

Several years ago I read an article somewhere that said the vein of akadama in the ground was being severely depleted.
Unless another vein is found, the material will eventually run out (like many of the resources our modern society is using, and not just crude oil).

Add to that the trouble caused by the earthquake and tsunami as mentioned by Remco and it easy to understand the source of supply issues.

By chance our local club meet (Cornwall bonsai society) was days after ther quake & nuclear disaster . I said to the members to buy stocks of soil that were already in the UK rather than risking higher levels of radioactivity that may occur in the future, but it was two different Nurseries i visited that said they were finding supply of 2 line difficult, and that the alternative product was very soft so neither were willing to stock it. As you say recycling by drying and sieving may well be the way we have to go, i'd happilly mix 50/50 used and new as long as its holding its' structure ok. I know a tree importer who fills a container each year and always seems to have a ton of akadama on a pallet...I'll give him a call to see what he knows.......

I had masakuni tools delivered directly from japan with no problem 3 weeks ago - still a good saving on UK prices, even after paying the duty , but tree imports are certainly much tighter these last few years - although there is a QT procedure that takes 2 years where the trees must be on benches, under cover (polytunnels etc), be inspected, have all old soil washed off etc. This means the forward planners have trees reaching the end of the QT period now but prices are higher due to the extra work and time needed - i guess with space a premium in QT only worthy (therefore expensive) trees are being put in too.

cheers 4 now

Marcus

I wouldn't look too hard for Akadama lads or worry about it unduly.

Akadama and alternatives are discussed (too?) often on this and other forums.

The general consensus seems to be that there is no real reason or justification for using Akadama on price or ecological grounds and also the supposed benefits are probably questionable, certainly in areas where freezing winters are the norm.

Combinations of hard fired clay products and/or cat litter (Sophisticat Pink and Tesco low dust lightweight in the UK, Terramol in Netherlands) with grit, river sand, aquarium gravel, bark etc. will provide all a growing bonsai needs-assuming adequate vigilance, watering and fertiliser, and will also ensure that your "soil" doesn't collapse into a tree suffocating mass at the first sign of wet, freezing weather.

Cheers

TimR