Using the right Bonsai soil mixture for your trees is crucial. Soil is important to supply your Bonsai with nutrients, but it also needs to drain properly, provide enough aeration and retain water. For more guidelines check:
https://www.bonsaiempire.com/basics/bonsai-care/bonsai-soil
The most common components for Bonsai soil mixtures are Akadama, Pumice, Lava rock, organic potting compost and fine gravel (grit). Different tree-species demand different soil-mixtures, so make sure to check our tree-species Bonsai guide to find the optimum mixture for individual trees. We can however describe two main mixtures, one for deciduous trees and one for coniferous trees. Both mixtures consist of Akadama (the water retention component), Pumice (good for structure of the substrate) and Lava rock (to provide the mixture with aeration and drainage).
If you want to learn more about Bonsai, consider enrolling in one of our Online Bonsai Courses. For the curriculums and free lectures, go to:
https://www.bonsaiempire.com/courses
This video was filmed in the Japanese garden of Clingendael. We also like to thank Deshima Bonsai.