# The Great D.E. Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Horticulture\ **Created:** [February 22, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/the-great-d-e-thread/402 "2018-02-22T14:02:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 13
**Author:** ![Mike\_Hennigan](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.bonsaimirai.com/mike_hennigan/32/297_2.png) [@Mike\_Hennigan](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/Mike_Hennigan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 2:54am UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/the-great-d-e-thread/402/13 "2018-06-17T02:54:50Z")
A lot of people use it with great results. I have most of my trees in DE right now. For conifers I’ve been doing 1:1 DE to perlite. They’re doing great. Ive started using more a 2:1 DE to perlite for my deciduous. Though I have some deciduous in 100% DE and they’re growing well too. The DE I use is Optisorb. It has a larger average particle size than the Napa bags I’ve bought. Though I still use Napa for shohins because the smaller particles are great for that use. I have a shohin Spirea in 100% Napa 8822 and it is growing beautifully. There is a lot to show in the bonsai world that supports DE as a fantastic soil component. Well renowned European Bonsai artists have been using DE for decades. There’s a brand of kitty litter they use over there that is 100% DE. They were widely using DE in Europe for bonsai before it caught on in The USA. Hope that helps! --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/the-great-d-e-thread/402)._