Best potting mix for livistona chinensis?

[Little Tex]

Ok so I had a community pot with around twenty seedlings, but the soil was too saturated and they started declining, plus an ant infestation took hold and it was a mess, so I made a new mix 30% perlite 10% peat moss 20% miracle grow cactus and palm, and 40% top soil. Only 7 survived the ordeal but  they were doing great, I ferilitzed them and they were all putting out their third or fourth strap leaf. The soil drained perfect, but now it has ants again and some fuzzy mold or fungus, probably from the undissolved fertilizer, Nelson palm fertizer btw if anyone was wondering, what do i do now?

[PalmatierMeg]

Photos?

If by top soil you mean the black muck sold for $2 a bag, ditch that. Also, skip the peat moss

I’ m not aware that Livistonas are fussy about soil but it sounds like yours drain poorly and that you overwater. Try to find a coarse, light fast draining soil as a base, then amend with your choice of coco coir, perlite, turface or the like. I learned the hard way that Miracle Gro soils are garbage and suspect they bag the same black muck in different colored bags. Unfortunately, MG has a monopoly on the bagged soil market. I’m trying Kellogg brand for my most prized palms, then amend. But it is not the cheapest brand on the market.

Also, don’t fertilize after repotting from a compot. Wait a few months. Make sure fertilizer is time release and use sparingly. Again, don’t overwater and never let the pots sit in water. Can you place the pots on shelf units rather right on the ground to discourage ants?

[zimm]

@PalmatierMeg what kind of Kellogg’s have you liked?  I have tried 3:

The first two, honestly I had a hard time telling apart but would might lean towards the potting mix (it has been a while).  Note these are all for containers.  Didn’t buy a second bag of either though and went back to my local standard (last paragraph) EXCEPT when I am potting something for indoors as there is a serious fungus gnat issue with the local (or all?) heavily compost based soil.

https://kellogggarden.com/products/kellogg/kellogg-garden-organics-natural-potting-mix/
 

https://kellogggarden.com/products/kellogg/kellogg-garden-organics-natural-raised-bed-potting-mix/

This one I was not a fan of, but as I am looking at it now it says it should be mixed with other soil and amended, so my bad here.  This was almost entirely finely shredded wood, which looked great but in practice did not retain enough moisture in the top inch or two and would dry out/bind making it hard for water to penetrate and for seedlings to push up.  Below the surface water retention was much better and I could see it composting in a year or two into a fantastic medium.

https://kellogggarden.com/products/kellogg/kellogg-garden-organics-natural-garden-soil/

 

The miracle grow stuff all seems to be overly fluffy and after a year or so plants are half sunken in the liners.  If I am to believe my local soil/mulch/materials yard it is mostly urea sprayed peat moss that has no nutrients after the spray wears off.  While it is a bit heavier/denser, I have primarily been using a mix of theirs that has pine bark, compost, and expanded shale (Bella Flora here:  https://www.silvercreekmaterials.com/landscaping-products).  

[PalmatierMeg]

I’m just starting with Kellogg - a recommendation I read from another PTer. The one I tried was in the green bag. I got it at the orange BB (the blue one didn’t have it). It was my only choice at the time. The other day I was there and they had the pink bag too. I’ve not seen the blue bag. My choices for soil that is not MG are very limited. I switched to Sta Green a couple years ago but am not entirely satisfied with them. I pot a lot of plants and amend all my bagged mixes with coco coir and perlite. Frankly, cost does enter the issue. I plan to devote the Kellogg soil to my potted palms and seedlings. Aroids don’t seem to care about soil as much. I do reuse soil that is not old or tapped out or use it when I plant things because our local soil is total dreck. I use pure pumice for my potted cacti and caudiciforms.

[Enar]

My go-to mix for palms now is 30% worm castings, 70% peat moss then take that complete mix and do 50% perlite. It has worked for a lot of my sensitive seedlings. It pays off mixing your own in the long run especially if you have a lot of plants that need different mixes. Besides it usually saves some trips to the store. 

[JLM]

Ive always used just straight miracle grow, but i guess im doing something right. My plants havent really complained much at all. I do let them dry out a little too much though. If we are in a very rainy time period ill pull them up into a covered area so they can dry out. 

For the livistonas, miracle grow like with everything else lol

Sometimes i will find bags of it that looks pretty good, sometimes ill find bags that look terrible. I just repotted my foxtail into a larger pot, the soil doesnt look that good. Might pull it out and redo at some point depending on how it responds.