Do you have an easy recipe of making your own mix for a gardening-beginner? Yes. I would recommend using what is known around here as 'Al's 5-1-1 mix' for annuals and perennials grown for just a year or two before being repotted. For plants that will stay in the same container/mix for more than 2 years I would recommend what is known around here as 'Al's Gritty mix'. The 5:1:1 mix is 5 parts pine bark (very small pieces), 1 part perlite and 1 part peat. The gritty mix is 1 part pine bark fines, 1 part Turface MVP and 1 part grower grit (#2 sized). For more information on this I will refer you to this thread. Don't get too hung up on specific ingredients and percentages. The principle is using ingredients that will be of a large enough size (above 1/16th inch) for as long as the plant will be in the mix. This provides superior aeration. The higher the percentage of organic matter such as peat or bark, the faster the mix breaks down and aeration suffers. The bark breaks down much slower than peat though. Anyway, read the thread and you will learn a lot. If you can't find suitable ingredients to make your own mix in time to get the season started then just get the regular MG potting mix and take until next year to learn more and locate sources for ingredients you want.

this is why i would suggest you use a media... instead of a soil ... or a compost ... and also why i would sterilize my media before using ... see link i dont know the name.. its irrelevant .. you are getting them.. because you are using 'unfinished' compost in your gizmos ... mushrooms are one of natures decomposters.. and when you use an unsterilized media.. that has vegetative material.. and mushroom spores.. when you add water.. you get shrooms .. see link for a very easy way to sterilize your stuff when i did seeds... i started things in flats.. one line per plant ... and transplanted into 6 oz solo cups at the first true leaf stage ... i sterilized the cups also ... and wrote name on them with sharpies.. and reused them every season after a wash in 10% bleach ... i sliced the bottom edge in 3 place on each cup for drainage ... below is a pic of a couple hundred under common fluorescent shop lights ... oops... forgot.. this is the name that plant forum... some of them might get upset i am actually talking about plants [or argue that a mushroom is not a plant, rather a fungus.. lol] ... i hang in the annual and perennial forums should you wish to further this discussion .... might find some other peeps there who can help ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Many thanks to everyone for your contributions and experiences. I got some pine mulch and put the 'fines' in the bottom. I bought two bags of the Miracle Grow blend for Cactus, Palms & Citrus. It is VERY light. I think everyone gave great advice. Going to try this and see how it GROWS. We grew them outside in the ground in California, but I was just a kid. Mother and Grannie just stuck them in the ground. As far as I know they never did anything else except "drip" water them with gray water the first season. After that, they were on their own. Our date palms were gigantic and the dates were yummy. There were several other varieties, but I don't know what the others were. I do recall that Grannie sprayed them with the hose from time to time to wash off the dust. They loved it. Having palms in the house makes me feel like I am home again. (Oh...those childhood memories). As for the size of the new pot, I got an emerald green ceramic Lotus pot and put it on a black wrought iron plant dolly with a clear plastic drip tray underneath. That will make it handy for moving when I clean the floors or rearrange things. The pot is about 4 inches bigger around in diameter, and in depth, it's about 1/3 deeper than the container it came in, so I think it is "joosta" - just right for the pot upgrade. The color is beautiful with the green palm fronds. One thing I did forget to ask, though. Should I cover the top of the soil with a little bit of the bark fines or the potting mix or both? I don't want to suffocate it since I know they need to breathe, but it does look a bit exposed on the surface. Thanks for your help, Palm lovers. ~Annie

Mushrooms are just the visible signs of the fungi that live in any sort of soil, typically feeding off the decaying organic matter. Very common and completely harmless to the plant. They are not necessarily related to humidity. In fact, I'd go so far to say that your tree looks to be suffering from a lack of humidity/soil moisture :-)) What kind of potting soil are you using? Looks pretty finely textured and depleted and the tree would likely benefit from being repotted with fresh media and a good, thorough watering.