River sand

fiona wrote:I'm saying this because from what I've read in this thread, I have the impression that the poster has read somewhere that river sand is something bonsai soils must have as if it were some sort of magical formula (oh lord - shades of the superthrive thread here). Rushing out and buying something because some book says so is potentially wasted effort

My apologies if I have offended your belief system. I thought I covered the fact that there are different types of sand and how some available locally (where I live) have proven to be beneficial for me given the conditions of my zone. Luckily these are easily available and even cheaper to obtain than "good" soil.

You are also right in the fact that I have little horticultural knowledge. As described in the past, I am new to this hobby and joined this forum expecting to learn more. That is the reason why I also posted the thread on superthrive (to learn more of a product I have never used but heard so much about). Perhaps I should be more careful on how I formulate my questions in the future.

I don't believe any criticism was intended. I believe the seriousness in tone comes from thoroughly thought out responses in which they pointing out common pitfalls that can be avoided. I have found the thread quite interesting.

Thanks All

...relax!

Sand anyone? I got truckloads of different sand...for construction purposes the excess and brown ones goes to my garden.

AK_Panama wrote: My apologies if I have offended your belief system... Perhaps I should be more careful on how I formulate my questions in the future.

AK, you have not upset my belief system at all and my apologies if you have somehow been upset. My comments, especially the ones about horti knowledge, were NOT directed at you as you are not the original poster of this question. Kingbean was.

The difficulty with a lot of threads is that a specific question often gets quickly overtaken by a more general discussion before there has been a sufficient answer given. Kingbean had asked a very specific question. That question had been answered in a way by Billy and then by Tim in the first three responses. It then became a more generalised thread, and while the other information was really interesting, including your own contribution which was also entertaining, it could easily have confused Kingbean into thinking that a. he must have river sand in his soil and b. that river sand was something he could pop down to the store and buy. I was merely steering it back to the simple fact that while you guys over there in climates that we can only dream of can and probably should do that, in the UK where Kingbean lives the situation is totally different for the reasons I gave.

Ya know I'm not even sure why we're having this new discussion as in my opinion between us, we have given him a full picture of why it is that something that you guys use regularly is not so simple over here. I don't think anyone can lose out here and no-one's contribution is wasted.

Thank you for clarifying Fiona, I now understand and accept I indeed misinterpreted your previous comments.

soil is totally, 100% linked to the species you want to put in it and the climate where you live,,,,,

in my early bonsai years i was a slave to the japanese recomendations - i weakened some trees, i killed some trees.............then i started thinking for myself - cornwall is mild and wet so nothing like japan ! so i now use much better draining mixes mostly 30% akadama, 65% kiryu and 5% chopped sphagnum moss - this keeps my pines, junipers, yews and new collected trees very happy. 50% akadama for trees that like more moisture and pure akadama only for trees that like it wet - all normal sand holds way to much water for uk trees imo. if you sieve out fine gravel from a lake / river and keep 3mm-8mm particles you could use this for the kiryu