Well Draining Soil for Floridians

[cobra2326]

What are all you Floridians using for a well draining palm soil? I’d love to use lava rock but I can’t find it fine enough for a reasonable price. I tend to overwater. Ideally I’d use 1/3 jungle growth potting mix, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 fine lava rock. All ideas welcome no matter how wild!

[Merlyn]

For potted palms. cycads, aloes and agaves I use equal parts generic HD topsoil, perlite and Turface MVP.  I get the Turface from a local Ewing Irrigation.  For plants that want it really dry I use less topsoil.  For swampy types (Licuala, etc) I use more topsoil.

[chad2468emr]

3 hours ago, cobra2326 said:

What are all you Floridians using for a well draining palm soil? I’d love to use lava rock but I can’t find it fine enough for a reasonable price. I tend to overwater. Ideally I’d use 1/3 jungle growth potting mix, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 fine lava rock. All ideas welcome no matter how wild!

I’ve been all over the place, haha.

Lately I’ve grown seriously fatigued with perlite because it ends up everywhere and floats, and after a few palms that had root issues from not drying out fast enough in what should have been a well-draining mix but they just weren’t getting warm enough, I’ve developed an aversion to using any actual soil. I get much more piece of mind knowing I have to water twice as often than feeling like my palms are drowning because the bottom third of their soil might not dry out enough between the rains we get here and my tendency to over-water. 

I find the orchid bark, mini pine nuggets, and similar bark products are a little TO course and retain too little moisture unless I add soil. And then when you do add soil to that mix, the courseness of the barks means you need to add more than you’d want or it washes through and out the pot, on top of struggling to get it homogenous since the soil sifts through when when mixing. I’ve started using 25 quart bags of “Zoo Med Reptibark” which are finer and make for a more homogenous mix that retains just enough dampness to where I don’t have to water too often. I also add leca, (hydroton brand, there are several hydroponic specialty places that have 50L bags for just $30 in the Orlando area) to prevent the soil from compacting and to provide the roots with oxygen. I mix in a little of another reptile product called “forest floor” which is more of a ground up bark that adds a little more moisture retention but not too much.

With this mix I can literally water at full blast with a hose but it drains so well that there is ZERO accumulation of water on top of the soil. And it still stays damp enough to only need to be watered every 5-7 days, depending on the weather and how much sun the pot gets.

All in all, it’s probably about 45% repti bark, 40% leca, 15% forest floor for most standard palms. I up the forest floor ratio for moisture lovers and up the leca for palms that like to be dry.  

 

[cobra2326]

Thanks Chad. I think I'm going to try some of the Hydroton. I've got some for orchids, but it's a bit coarse. I'll see what I can find locally.

[chad2468emr]

3 hours ago, cobra2326 said:

Thanks Chad. I think I'm going to try some of the Hydroton. I've got some for orchids, but it's a bit coarse. I'll see what I can find locally.

Look into hydroponic shops. They almost always have it no matter where you’re at. I’ve found they tend to focus on growing less “palmy” plants and more... erghem... potentially controversial plant species, but no matter which one I go to, they’ve got bulk sizes of soil amendments that cost 1/2 of what I’d find elsewhere.