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Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:26 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:that is truly impressive i cant say ive ever seen a healthier looking plant of any kind
Mandeville, zone 9a. Don't let 'em tell you it can't be done!
Posted on 1/4/26 at 7:12 pm to cgrand
Thank you, gents. Hear me when I say this: it is all about the inorganic soil. No bark, no wood chips, no sawdust, no wood shavings, no leaf mulch, no manure, no compost, none of that stuff. Just a compost layer on top, fertilizer, and surface mulch. Then whatever supplements you like. I like azomite and mycorrhizae when planting and k-mag before flowering.
The next time you read something or hear something about mixing compost or chicken manure or grass clippings or mulched leaves or whatever into your soil just turn your brain off and stop listening. Anytime you hear the phrase "rich organic soil" for containers, same thing. Just bail and don't listen to anything after that.
This season I've got a couple of seedlings that I am going to grow in pure sand just to document it in this thread and prove the point.
The next time you read something or hear something about mixing compost or chicken manure or grass clippings or mulched leaves or whatever into your soil just turn your brain off and stop listening. Anytime you hear the phrase "rich organic soil" for containers, same thing. Just bail and don't listen to anything after that.
This season I've got a couple of seedlings that I am going to grow in pure sand just to document it in this thread and prove the point.
This post was edited on 1/4/26 at 9:56 pm
Posted on 1/5/26 at 5:40 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:
Thank you, gents. Hear me when I say this: it is all about the inorganic soil. No bark, no wood chips, no sawdust, no wood shavings, no leaf mulch, no manure, no compost, none of that stuff. Just a compost layer on top, fertilizer, and surface mulch. Then whatever supplements you like. I like azomite and mycorrhizae when planting and k-mag before flowering.
That is interesting. All I have been doing is taking miracle grow potting soil and adding some pearlite to it and thats it. I put that in almost all of my potted plants. I have not been adding any surface mulch. I assume that is good to keep the moisture in?
Posted on 1/5/26 at 7:11 pm to Tigerlaff
You’re Pickering is further along than mine. LOL..
Posted on 1/5/26 at 7:40 pm to LanierSpots
quote:
All I have been doing is taking miracle grow potting soil and adding some pearlite to it and thats it. I put that in almost all of my potted plants.
This will work for a while, but the bark in the miracle gro is eventually going to rot and start killing roots. If you do this, I would repot with totally new soil every 2 years. That's about how long mine lasted before the bottoms of the root balls were sitting in liquified bark muck. You can extend the life of bark soil by adding more minerals besides the perlite like decomposed granite or sand from home depot. Best thing you could do is switch to something where either peat moss or coco coir are the only organics in the mix.
quote:
I have not been adding any surface mulch. I assume that is good to keep the moisture in?
Mulch keeps moisture in, makes the root ball more uniformly moist, insulates the roots from both hot and cold temperature swings, provides nutrients as it slowly decomposes, and serves as a substrate for beneficial fungi and bacteria. Best you can possibly get is redwood mulch but that's almost impossible now. Cypress seems to be the best available to us. Always natural mulch, no dyes.
Posted on 1/5/26 at 7:41 pm to wiltznucs
quote:
You’re Pickering is further along than mine. LOL..
Welcome to my farm, (Sub)tropical Acres.
Posted on 1/5/26 at 8:31 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:
Best thing you could do is switch to something where either peat moss or coco coir are the only organics in the mix.
So you are buying this? Sorry for the questions. Id like to understand what you are doing. I have a nursery that sells a bunch of different soils but its pretty confusing.
I have only been using the miracle grow stuff because its available. I have always thought my palms that I pot would be better if I added sand to the mix since that is more natural to my area. Plus, all my things seem to flourish once I plant them in the ground here. I believe I have very good soil in my area.
I recently planted a Christmas palm that I had in a huge pot on my back porch. When I took that thing out of the pot, there was nothing but roots in there. LOL. The pot was basically empty and when I planted the Christmas palm in the ground, two weeks later it was a total different color. Deep dark green and its booming now.
This post was edited on 1/5/26 at 8:34 pm
Posted on 1/5/26 at 8:58 pm to LanierSpots
quote:
So you are buying this? Sorry for the questions. Id like to understand what you are doing. I have a nursery that sells a bunch of different soils but its pretty confusing.
Ask away, baw. That's why we have this thread. I buy almost exclusively Gary's Top Pot soil from California. It is stupid expensive to ship it to me but it has led to wild success with container trees and ornamentals. You do not have to use Gary's, but you should ideally be striving for something like it. Gary's consists of the following:
35% peat
30% pumice
20% perlite
10% sand
5% biochar
You can buy all of these and mix it yourself. Or you can substitute things like decomposed granite instead of pumice or skip the biochar. The reason this is ideal is because it drains extremely well and it does not break down over time. Two thirds of this mix is rocks/sand. The peat breaks down very slowly and does not lead to the anoxic sludge that bark based soil eventually does. Almost anything from a nursery is going to be made out of bark creatively labeled as "recycled forest products."
For plants I don't really care about or that I will only have for one season, I do miracle gro cactus mix with a ton of additional perlite and sand added.
quote:
Plus, all my things seem to flourish once I plant them in the ground here. I believe I have very good soil in my area.
It's because you do have very good soil. Florida is sand and it drains very well. Roots love it. The only issue in Florida is that if you are on limestone, you are probably too alkaline for most things to thrive. That is easily fixed by adding sulfur to your soil regularly. This is mostly a problem in southeast Florida.
Posted on 1/6/26 at 7:40 am to Tigerlaff
My Pickering has started to
Flush as well. It’s still a small tree so wasn’t planning to let it hold any fruit.
Will it abort on its own, or should I remove anything that stays ?
At what size is it safe to allow them to hold fruit.
My Dwarf Hawaiian flushed a few weeks ago, but nothing set assuming bc it was left outside like that in the 40s.
I’ve been rolling them inside anytime forecast shows <40
Maybe that’s where I went wrong
Flush as well. It’s still a small tree so wasn’t planning to let it hold any fruit.
Will it abort on its own, or should I remove anything that stays ?
At what size is it safe to allow them to hold fruit.
My Dwarf Hawaiian flushed a few weeks ago, but nothing set assuming bc it was left outside like that in the 40s.
I’ve been rolling them inside anytime forecast shows <40
Maybe that’s where I went wrong
Posted on 1/6/26 at 10:31 am to Tigerlaff
when is the best time to order a mango tree? I'm guessing it's soon. Plan on replacing my papaya tree with one.
Posted on 1/6/26 at 6:51 pm to DickTater
Yes, temps under 40F will cause fruit drop. If your trees are too young to hold then it's no problem. If you are trying to get fruit, it will likely bloom again and hold them when we are getting cool but not cold weather in March/April.
Yes, mangos self abort any fruit they can't hold. But that's not true on tiny grafted trees. The fruiting scion thinks it is a fully grown mature tree and doesn't realize it has a tiny root system and trunk. If you let a small tree hold too much fruit, they can actually decline and die. It takes a ton of sugars to mature a mango fruit.
You'll have to post pics before we can say if it is ready to hold any. I let my 15g tree hold 3 fruit last year. This year it's a full 25g sized tree and I probably will let it hold as many as it wants too unless the branches look stressed.
Yes, mangos self abort any fruit they can't hold. But that's not true on tiny grafted trees. The fruiting scion thinks it is a fully grown mature tree and doesn't realize it has a tiny root system and trunk. If you let a small tree hold too much fruit, they can actually decline and die. It takes a ton of sugars to mature a mango fruit.
You'll have to post pics before we can say if it is ready to hold any. I let my 15g tree hold 3 fruit last year. This year it's a full 25g sized tree and I probably will let it hold as many as it wants too unless the branches look stressed.
Posted on 1/6/26 at 7:04 pm to Loup
quote:
when is the best time to order a mango tree? I'm guessing it's soon. Plan on replacing my papaya tree with one.
If you are mail ordering, wait until a good long warm spell on the forecast or spring. All the major parcel carriers and USPS sometimes route through hubs like Memphis or Atlanta or Dallas where it gets significantly colder than we do.
Also buy the largest size you can get. Melissa Pierce on the mango Facebook groups ships 7gal trees of great varieties.
This post was edited on 1/6/26 at 7:06 pm
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[/url][/img]Posted on 1/7/26 at 6:11 pm to DickTater
MY MAN 
Look at you?!! This is in Geismar?
Look at you?!! This is in Geismar?
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:28 am to Tigerlaff
I need to repot my mangos. Any issues with doing this in the winter if we are having nice weather?
Posted on 1/8/26 at 8:04 am to TimeOutdoors
quote:
I need to repot my mangos. Any issues with doing this in the winter if we are having nice weather?
Tropical trees can handle water and they can handle more cold than you think. What they don't like is being wet AND cold. They are metabolically slow in the winter and this reduces both their need for water and their immune system function.
When you repot, you will have to water it in and water a few more times after. We are about to have 6 nights of lows in the 30s and 40s. If your trees are indoors and heated, go for it. If they are going to sit outside, wait for spring. Not worth it to test a young tree by disturbing its roots and letting them get cold and wet as they try to recover.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 10:21 am to Tigerlaff
Mid Winter Status / Advice
Took these over from my wife who was struggling with it, any advice is appreciated but I haven't fertilized them since mid fall.
Meyer Lemon
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-No fruit this year
Barbados Cherry
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-Top branch split and was removed last year
-Had some flowering but no fruit this year
Lime
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-No fruit this year
Unknown
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-No fruit this year
Satsuma
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-No fruit this year
Took these over from my wife who was struggling with it, any advice is appreciated but I haven't fertilized them since mid fall.
Meyer Lemon
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-No fruit this year
Barbados Cherry
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-Top branch split and was removed last year
-Had some flowering but no fruit this year
Lime
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-No fruit this year
Unknown
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-No fruit this year
Satsuma
-Repotted in Sand/peat mix last winter
-No fruit this year
Posted on 1/8/26 at 1:41 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:
When you repot, you will have to water it in and water a few more times after. We are about to have 6 nights of lows in the 30s and 40s. If your trees are indoors and heated, go for it. If they are going to sit outside, wait for spring. Not worth it to test a young tree by disturbing its roots and letting them get cold and wet as they try to recover.
They are in a greenhouse and I have resolved the issues I was having with the greenhouse. I am a little light on vermiculite and had to order more which won't be in until next week. I know you are a fan of perlite, but it sets off my allergies, so I am sticking with course vermiculite as long as it seems to be working for me.
Thanks for your help. You looking to experiment with anything new in 2026? My office has two cargo doors that were replaced with windows when it was converted to office space. I am thinking about getting a mango tree and a papaya for my office since I get plenty of sun.
This post was edited on 1/8/26 at 6:37 pm
Posted on 1/8/26 at 6:23 pm to tide06
I will get to this later tonight. You have a lot going on there.
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