Porous Inorganic Soil Amendment for Bonsai, Succulents & Custom Potting Mixes

Customize your growing medium with Soil Sunrise Calcined Clay Bonsai Soil Additive, a durable, porous inorganic amendment commonly used in bonsai substrates and other specialty potting mixes. Its granular structure helps create air space within the growing medium while providing a balance of drainage and moisture retention.

Especially useful for bonsai trees, calcined clay can also be incorporated into mixes for succulents, cacti, and other container-grown plants that benefit from an open, well-structured growing medium. Calcined clay provides an excellent alternative to akadama, which is expensive as it is imported from Japan.

Key Benefits:

• Ideal for Bonsai Soil Mixes: A versatile inorganic component for creating custom bonsai substrates.
• Supports Drainage & Aeration: Granular particles help maintain pore space within the growing medium and allow excess water to drain.
• Porous Structure: Calcined clay can absorb and retain some moisture while maintaining an open soil structure.
• Helps Resist Compaction: Durable particles help create structure in mixes that might otherwise settle or become dense.
• Versatile Soil Amendment: Suitable for bonsai, succulents, cacti, container plants, and custom specialty soil blends.
• Easy to Mix: Combine with pumice, lava rock, bark, compost, or other growing-media ingredients according to your plant's needs.
  

What Is Calcined Clay?

Calcined clay is clay that has been heated at high temperatures to create a hardened, porous granular material. Unlike untreated clay, the resulting particles maintain their structure when incorporated into growing media.

This combination of porosity, drainage, moisture retention, and structural stability makes calcined clay especially useful as an inorganic component of bonsai soil.

Why Use Calcined Clay for Bonsai?

Bonsai trees are grown in relatively shallow containers, making the physical structure of the growing medium especially important.

Calcined clay helps create a granular substrate with spaces between particles for water movement and airflow. Its porous particles can also retain some moisture, helping growers balance drainage with moisture availability.

It can be incorporated alongside other commonly used bonsai substrate components such as pumice, lava rock, pine bark, and organic material to create a mix appropriate for the tree species and growing conditions

How to Use Calcined Clay:

Soil Amending:
Blend 10% - 30% calcined clay into potting soils for houseplants, container gardens, or raised beds.

Evaporation control:
Top dress the surface of existing soil with a thin surface layer to slow down moisture loss.

Where Can I Use Calcined Clay?

Bonsai Soil:
Use as one component of a custom bonsai substrate. Combine with other inorganic or organic ingredients according to the needs of your tree.

Succulents & Cacti:
Mix with other growing-media ingredients to create additional structure and drainage.

Custom Soil Blends:
Combine with pumice, lava rock, bark, perlite, or other amendments to create a specialty growing medium.

How Much Calcined Clay Do I Need?

Choose the bag size that best fits your potting or repotting projects. The appropriate proportion will vary depending on the plant species, climate, container, watering habits, and other ingredients in the mix.

4 qt: Bonsai repotting, small plant collections, or custom soil mixing.

Why Choose Soil Sunrise Calcined Clay Bonsai Soil Additive?

Soil Sunrise Calcined Clay Bonsai Soil Additive gives growers a versatile inorganic ingredient for customizing the drainage, aeration, moisture retention, and structure of bonsai and specialty plant substrates. 

Ideal for bonsai trees, succulents, cacti, container plants, top dressing, and custom potting mixes.

100% Calcined Clay
Made in the USA
  

Note: Individual plant results may vary based on plant species, watering, light, temperature, container type, growing medium, and other growing conditions.