When we talk about soils in the bonsai world we almost always get into a contravorsy. This is due to the fact that everyone likes diffrent types of soils that work in their area. In bonsai since you would think we use free draining soil it would only mean one soil, this is a wrong conseption. Now days people mix a bit of organic into their mixes like pine bark , orchid, or birch. These are only some of them. And the rest of the soil is mostly processed granite river rock lava rock pumice and acadama a japanese favorite. There is also some special soils for Acid loving trees like azalea. This soil is called kanuma. Over the years people have been getting better in making their own soil . For this reason there is so much contraversy. Since your a beginner it is easy to be mislead . My recommendation is simple just use acadama then when you start to get experience experiment with your soils and make your own. Remember balanced soil is the key mostly free draining rock and only maybe 30% organic should do your trees great. If you find your soils dont work stick to the acadama till you make one that works for you.

If you have any questions email me at thebonsaischool@zoomshare.com