Kusamono Soil Recipe

From Barbara Phillips:

We made soil and “muck” for the workshops, Steve Iwaki put together the soil for the Kusamono, and I made two types of “muck”, one for the soil for the Moss Balls and one that isstickier to fasten rocks or chunks of wood into the pot. Here are the recipes I made, based as closely as I could to what Young uses. I noticed she liked mixing in some of the stickier muck into the moss ball muck I made when she was doing the demo. Substitute as you see fit.

Kusamono soil:

  • 50% Shohin bonsai mix,

  • 45% potting soil with large particles sifted out,

  • 5% horticultural charcoal or biochar.

Moss Ball “muck”:

“Super Muck” from Bonsai Learning Center, OR you can make your own:

  • 5 Parts of Michigan Peat compost. (Amazon delivered a 40lb. Bag, $26.00)

  • 1 part Miracle Gro Sphagnum Peat Moss. (Could use regular sphagnum and cut it very small)

  • 1 part Acadama dust

“Muck” to fasten in rocks, wood, low spots in pots

  • 1 part Southern Bentonite (this is a type of clay, get Southern Bentonite on Amazon)

  • 1 part spaghnum

  • 5 part potting soil

Michael Wei