I'll try to elaborate on a few things. First to the original person asking the question. Nutricote is changing. It isn't always the same kind of product you could buy 10 years ago. I am seeing blends being put together. When Nutricote was fairly new every prill was a grey polymer coated ball. It worked beautifully. It was also fairly expensive to the average person, but if you are making money growing anything that you use it on, it gives you a wonderful product that you can count on to be perfect. Many of these new products have cheapened the Nutricote name. Hey are mixing regular (cheap) fertilizers with time release prills. So, to me, you can't be totally sure about how some of these products are going to work. For me, that is why I'm sticking with what I know. In fact, I'm getting ready to make the haul over to Apopka to get what I want. On the using of phosphate and fertilizing newly planted plants. The general idea is that you don't want to burn any new, or slightly damaged roots with a hot fertilizer. This mainly has to do with using a faster reacting nitrogen fertilizer.not all fertilizer burns roots. Phosphate doesn't burn like nitrogen. So it isn't the use of any fertilizer, more just dealing with nitrogen. I have the time to use different fertilizers at different times of the year. What I do is use different products that will manipulate my plants so that they do exactly what I want them to do. Nitrogen makes things grow. Phosphate is the middle number of the three main numbers on the label. Phosphate will grow roots on plants and will force flowers on flowering plants. Its like with growing bougainvilleas. Give them a lot of nitrogen and they grow to be big and beautiful, but not many flowers. Cut down on the N and jam them with phosphate and in about 3 to 4 weeks they are flowering all over the place. You are right about phosphate not mixing with water very well. This is why our laundry detergents cut out phosphates decades ago. I only use it when I'm trying to grow roots, so normally, just when something first gets planted. It is probably not the best product for the environment, but I haven't used a bottled insecticide on my plants in 8 years, so I think I could be doing a lot worse. On using the phosphate when planting a longer term plant, like trees. When I was younger, over a 12 year period, I planted around 8000 trees. Many times we would plant them in the late fall so that they can root in all winter and have a bigger root system that might be ready for spring. People don't realize that when you plant trees in spring, they don't have a good root system that is ready for summer and they just make it through the first season. Most professional growers will tell you, make a bigger bottom and you will get a bigger top. If you have no bottom your not going to get the top to grow fast. When people really wanted huge oak trees fast, we would place 3 PVC pipes on the outside edges of the root system and each month, until spring, we would fill the tubes with 0-46-0. In 3 years the oak trees that had the phosphate added were around three times the canopy. I have a lot more stories as well, like being able to grow a st Augustine lawn without using the water that everybody else uses.

Welcome aboard, Shelbey! Tampa is my old stomping grounds, too. But many, many years ago! Hope you will make lots of new friends here and enjoy the forum as much as I do. There's always something new to learn around this place! Marcia

I'm not sure what you have in mind for using the potting soil exactly, but I have my own special mix made that I use for my rare cycads. With plants that are worth what these are worth, getting the best soil is well worth the extra money. You mentioned drainage, well, that is the most important thing in growing cycads. That, and having a mix that doesn't break down real fast and get mucky over time. Also, I don't want insects getting in my mix (ants and termites love pine bark)and I don't want my pH to go acid in a year. My mix is mainly Canadian peat, well point sand (very coarse sand, almost small rock)I do use cypress saw dust and also perlite. If you can't find anything good, I am 2 minutes off I-4 in Lakeland and have my soil professionally made for me by a place that has a computer mixing it and I buy 30 yards at a time. If you are just wanting to put up some things, I could spare 1/2 a yard or something like that.

I have one in a pot I bought at a native plant sale a couple of years ago. The deer nibbled it and set it back somewhat last year, but I see some new growth on it this year. The new leaves are very dark, almost black but I assume they will green as they grow. I'm glad to see what a more fully grown one looks like, thanks! I look forward-- eventually -- to fruit as some other pages indicate it is very tasty....