Those that grow in containers generally do not depend on the media for nutrients; rather, they look to the nutrient supplementation program they have in place. If your soil is supplying substantial amounts of nutrients, it is being attacked structurally by microbial activity - it is breaking down. Organic bonsai soil components are carefully chosen to retain structure for the intended life of the planting. Conifer bark is a widely chosen and readily available soil component. It retains its structure for several reasons: It is highly lignified - decay organisms break down cellulose much more quickly than lignin, making bark a much better choice than sapwood chips e.g. Conifer bark is rich in suberin, which is a lipid that helps bark resist decay organisms by making it very difficult for them to cleave hydrocarbon chains. Suberin is often referred to as "natures water-proofing for trees", and its presence in greater abundance in conifer bark is also why we generally prefer conifer bark to that of deciduous genera.

To determine how valuable the CSM might be as a soil component, you might research the ratio of lignin:cellulose as compared to conifer bark. It almost certainly does not contain suberin in the amounts that conifer bark does. My guess is that it will not retain structure over the long term near as well as conifer bark.

Al

Thanks Al. Is there any data out there to say which kind of conifer bark is the best? For some reason, Herb Gustafson prefers hemlock, but most persons use pine bark (species not identified usually). Some also like to use the orchid bark.
I just learned that there is a white mold that grows on the cocoa shells which does not sound appealing - will just use it around my hosta.
Bob