I have a shelter built with a shade cloth cutting 50% UV during the 3 hottest months of the year. I have been growing some tropical trees, but don't want my collection to be limited to just those. I have pines, junipers, ficus, citrus, Giant Sequoia, Dawn Redwood and some others in my collection. I just have to baby them in the summer. Im gonna order some akadama, and put a small starter tree in it, just to see how it does around here. I know akadama is hard to get for a reasonable price in the USA, especially paying for shipping. I have thought about it a lot more since starting this topic though, and agree that I need to move closer towards an inorganic medium.