Wow the plants look very nice. Can you take a picture a bit further out I would like to see how you lanscaped?

You are in New York?

I'll take some pictures tomorrow during the day, and yes, I'm in NY

Exceleent!, I agree pan out a little. Those Cycads look amazing!

Great! This is the first time I have seen anyone with a Macrozamia moorei. This is on my want list for sure. You have done a great job. Thanks for sharing.

xerophyte_nyc

May I ask, what's your soil mix for your Cycas revoluta?

We have one, but I can't seem to get it to do more than just survive. It had a flush this summer, but that dried up and died. I'd love to get it to look like yours so perhaps changing the soil might help.

Clearly, I'm doing something wrong.

Any response would be appreciated.

Thanks :)

nice nice pictures, very impressive. your 3rd picture with the Majesty palm has impatiens in the container also, I've always heard the Majesty Palms will die if you cut their roots, but digging in the conatiner you have to disturb the roots, what's been your experience with disturbing the roots? Keep up the good work.

blondboy:

For the cycads the mix is 50% perlite, 50% topsoil from Home Depot. In the spring I mixed in a slow release 16-4-12 fertilizer with Micronutrients (the trace elements are extremely important). During warm weather I water almost daily, and once a week I supplement with a high nitrogen soluble fertilizer, such as Miracle-Gro lawn food. The plant sits in full sun. Cycads truly are wonderful plants, and they do very well indoors for the winter because they will tolerate lower light and humidity, and as long as watering is kept to a minimum, they will not grow any unsightly fronds.

oppalm:

I will just trim back the impatiens down to soil level when I bring the palm indoors, the impatiens' roots will die and provide compost as it decomposes. I don't think that disturbing the palm's surface roots would really harm it anyway; if I was to repot and start trimming back the main roots, then I'd be concerned. When I repotted this palm earlier in the summer, it did not skip a beat, it kept right on growing.

Blondboy-
I just put mine in plain old Miracle grow potting mix. I got one flush (didn't even know that term until I read this) and it looks great. It's not neary as big as xerophyte's but quite healty none the less. I'll post a picture this weekend. It's got a pronounced angle because it was flush up against a lilac tree and got sun from only one direction (due west)

50% perlite and 50% top soil? WOW! I didn't see THAT coming.

I guess my mix is just wrong then.

I have (and I don't remember the percentages)

- top soil
- sand
- some wood chips

>puts psycic hat onI see a trip to Home Depot and/or a garden center this weekend. LOL

>takes hat off

Peat works well for palms in containers because it is light and by the time it turns to muck after 2 years, the palm needs to be repotted anyway. Miracle-gro potting mix contains a lot of peat. I would not use that long-term.

Cycads don't need repotting as often, so a good loam garden soil or topsoil from a bag will last much longer in a pot since it degrades quite slowly, taking many years. The perlite is used to lighten up the heavy soil. That's it! The mix has a neutral pH too. And don't use rocks on the bottom of the containers for supposed drainage improvement because it doesn't help, it only raises the perched water table and reduces usable soil volume.

The only thing I hate about perlite is that it floats around after watering. I suppose a top dressing would solve that problem.