Be careful of bonsai books and articles written in or translated to British
English. Most Americans (I hope) have figured out by now that what the British
mean by compost (potting soil) is not what we mean by compost (rotted
vegetation used to imorove garden soil).
But I was puzzled for a long time by British soil recipes which include
"loam." In the US, loam is rich heavy garden soil. I can't imagine using loam in a
bonsai potting mix. I finally figured it out when I ran across a reference to
Akadama as "loam." They mean clay, especially fired or processed clay. So if
you see a bonsai soil recipe which calls for 1/3 loam, read Turface,
Terragreen, or something similar.
Iris

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