On Sep 11, 2005, at 9:43 AM, Roger Snipes wrote:

Of course a perched water table can be a bad thing,

Maybe, maybe not for bonsai. I don't think we know the answer to this.
Layering bonsai soil is a tradition used by the very best bonsaists in
the world.

Many methods are passed along as the way a thing is done because that
is the way it has always been done, and if the way it has always been
done seems to work (or does no harm even if not necessarily
beneficial), then there is no reason not to continue to pass the
traditional method along.

It is very appropriate for us to think about, question and experiment
with alternatives to the many bonsai traditions.

But I think we should be cautious about assuming that our ideas are
superior to those of others. Sometimes a practice is correct, even if
the explanation of it is erroneous.

For example, many years ago I read, in an English language version of a
Japanese bonsai book, a description of how to anneal copper wire . It
said to place the wire in a fire to "drive out the water" in the wire.
Well, there was no water in the copper. Maybe it was a translation
error. We could laugh at the silly explanation for annealing, but the
advice, the procedure, was correct. Putting the wire in the fire would
anneal it (Well, it is a little more complicated than that, but copper
is annealed by heating it).

Jim, I am curious, you say that now your trees are healthier that ever
using Boon's soil mix and layered soil.
Boon's mixes are (1) equal parts of akadama, lava rock & pumice for
conifers, and (2) 2 parts akadama, 1 part lava rock & 1 part pumice for
deciduous trees. Boon also adds a little each of decomposed granite and
charcoal. I haven't started to use DG or charcoal, but I probably will.

I resisted using akadama ("It's expensive, I don't need dirt from
Japan!") until Mas Imazumi, my first teacher, told me that everything
grows better in it. So, I started using it. Later I became Boon's
student & adopted his mixes.

Please note that there is no peat moss, leaf mold, bark or other form
of organic material in these mixes. I understand that Boon has clients
throughout the many climate zones of the US using these mixes with
great success.

I have experimented with other ingredients and I will continue to do
so, but I usually have too many distractions to be able to do really
good trials that yield really conclusive results.

Did you also use Boon's mix in your pre-layering days,
no
and was your treatment of your trees otherwise identical back then?
no. I started my nursery 10 years ago. Some things have been very
successful, some abject failures. My practices & procedures have
improved spasmodically - sometimes I learn a lot in a short time,
sometimes my learning is almost imperceptible, but after several years
I realize that, somehow (osmosis?) I know something that I didn't used
to. So, my "treatment" has evolved & we could have endless discussions
about whether there is a good basis for whatever I am doing.
Jim


************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Bob Pastorio++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++