What sand should i mix with topsoil for FL mangos?

[johnb51]

Inquiring minds...

[bovine421]

Inquiring minds...

thanks

[850FL]

I have red hill and wandering Jew succulents that are literally growing in a stream of water. Been in there a couple months now. If anybody knows about succulents they generally hate too much water.. Also kept century plants and many others alive for months at a time in this stream on the property. With no root rot. The key is constant flow to provide an aerobic environment to the roots. Similar concept as hydroponics. Most people automatically think flooding will kill a plant. Not necessarily, but yes stagnant water most definitely will. Maybe add a cheap aerator system to the lower root zone if you know it’s gonna flood for months at a time in certain spots. Lol idk, just a though. You can also stuff the bottom of the planting pit with sticks, logs, large mulch, rocks  hard clay and sand, and this has worked well with holes that only flood up until that bottom level with those mentioned materials. Then backfill with a normal mix on top of that level.

A cheap mix I use in Fl is 50% native sand maybe with a bit of clay, 40% topsoil and or leaf compost and or sphagnum peat moss, 5% pulverized limestone, 5% composted or semi-composted coffee grounds (Starbucks will give u huge bags for free). Just remember to fertilize often because this mix is honestly pretty devoid of Nitrogen and probably some micros. Most things on that list you can find at Lowe’s and if a bag has a rip they’ll mark it down 50% regardless of how much fell out usually. At my Lowe’s anything under 5$ is marked down to 1$

[EddieF]

850fl, like you said, water that keeps flushing's much diff then mud puddle.
I'm gonna try 50/50 store sand/topsoi fill. 
I'll do drain test after hole's dug.  Any suggestions how long it should take per inch to drain?
Tempted to get 2 same exact trees, mix one 50/50 & other straight sand.  Fertilize regularly.
End of next week i'll hopefully by buying 6 semi dwarf varieties.  3gal, 7gal, 15gal, whatever fits the bill best.

[EddieF]

WARNING!  DO NOT USE ALL PURPOSE SAND PICTURED IN 1st PAGE!
Today my dad & i got 2 bags of the all purpose sand & 2 bags of the play sand.
Dug up honey bell & another citrus we planted in spring which looked terrible & didn't grow much.
I tested topsoil fill we had put 35yrd of down, a mix, straight play & straight all purpose.
I almost lost my breath when i tested all purpose sand.  Color instantly went off the ph & alk scale.
I'm busy atm but felt the need to inform you all asap.
I didn't do all at exact time so colors are faded but you see the drastic high ph & alk in all purpose sand which is pictured alone.
Ed

[saltyreefer]

I'm in the camp that the tree/trees will adapt to the soil you have. Heck once they start getting larger that sand you add won't even make a difference. Aren't the roots just going to grow past the sand you add eventually anyways? I am in a different area so not sure about yours but I've never added anything when planting a mango tree here in Brevard County and my trees thrive.

[EddieF]

Salty, i brought in the 35yrds of topsoil to grade the area nice & level.
It's too black, compacted holds water, roots rot.  So my plan is to make hole 2-3x size of root ball, mix soil with sand for drainage.
I'm blown away how high ph & alk are in sakrete multi (i called it all purpose) purpose sand.
Levels that high would kill trees no?  Here's another shot of it & enlarged hole for citrus we dug out.  Pissed i mixed whole bag of crap high ph sand in.  Tomorrow it'll get removed or try sulfur to lower it.
Yes mangos are trees to be bought & planted but had to save this citrus first.

[JoeP450]

Hey guys,

One thing I noticed a while back is that Zills potting mix seemed to be mostly sand and shredded pine bark so this year I changed up my strategy and did 50-50 pine bark nuggets and sakrete play sand both from Home Depot. You find the pine bark nuggets with the mulch and the play sand where the concrete and fencing is sold. This mix is working great as it provides drainage while I suspect pine bark adds some acidity provides some substrate for mycorrhizae growth. Also to prevent over watering I simply don’t even water them just leave them in partial shade of larger trees and let them do their thing.

Some pics below are sprouts from mangos I ate this 2020 season in 1 gallon pots.

O-15 next to pina colada, check out the characteristic compact growth of PC 👀



A Karen Michelle


Most of the bunch in partial shade and protected with chicken wire as rabbits in my yard love eating young mango shoots.


Joe

[JoeP450]

Also I would add that I considered just driving to the beach with spade and a few 5 gallon buckets but decided against it as likely the sand at the beach probably has high salt content so if going that route I’d have to wash out the salt of the sand and just seemed like work so bought the play sand instead at HD.

-joe

[EddieF]

Good decisions Joe.  Play sand tested great, multi purpose sand test startled me.  I couldn't believe the colors ph & alk turned in less then 1 second.
Beach sand or my local fill store might have high salt which is why i'm not grabbing a yard from them.

The holes dug for citrus to rescue was easier cause topsoil's only a inch or 2 there, didn't need much fill there.  Simply removed most of dense packed black wet soil off root ball & mixed up the sandy stuff our lots are with the black stuff & play sand.  Rained many inches already so hopefully they're happy now.  Mixed a little sulfur & fert in too.

[Guanabanus]

JoeP450,

Those mango plants you showed are "seedlings of __________."  They are not the varieties named.  Each of them is a new, currently un-named variety.

[JoeP450]

I agree Har and I thought by calling them sprouts it was obvious they were seedlings, no harm no foul 👍

Joe

[850FL]

Love the pinnate leaf style some of these mangos put out, like that PC seedling

Ice cream, ataulfo, Mallika to name some others.. they must have historically descended from the same geographical area of origin.. no?

[saltyreefer]

Also I would add that I considered just driving to the beach with spade and a few 5 gallon buckets but decided against it as likely the sand at the beach probably has high salt content so if going that route I’d have to wash out the salt of the sand and just seemed like work so bought the play sand instead at HD.

-joe

Interesting beach sand is looked at like this here, in the reef/coral aquarium community we will use play sand also and cycle it to get the impurities out but beach sand is chock FULL of bad silicates and just plain too polluted to use in a reef tank. There is also a sand sold just for reef tanks called live sand which is full of good bacteria for the aquarium. Am I rambling? lol

[Iceman716238]

Also I would add that I considered just driving to the beach with spade and a few 5 gallon buckets but decided against it as likely the sand at the beach probably has high salt content so if going that route I’d have to wash out the salt of the sand and just seemed like work so bought the play sand instead at HD.

-joe

Interesting beach sand is looked at like this here, in the reef/coral aquarium community we will use play sand also and cycle it to get the impurities out but beach sand is chock FULL of bad silicates and just plain too polluted to use in a reef tank. There is also a sand sold just for reef tanks called live sand which is full of good bacteria for the aquarium. Am I rambling? lol

Since you a reefer, ever heard of WWC?

[saltyreefer]

Also I would add that I considered just driving to the beach with spade and a few 5 gallon buckets but decided against it as likely the sand at the beach probably has high salt content so if going that route I’d have to wash out the salt of the sand and just seemed like work so bought the play sand instead at HD.

-joe

Interesting beach sand is looked at like this here, in the reef/coral aquarium community we will use play sand also and cycle it to get the impurities out but beach sand is chock FULL of bad silicates and just plain too polluted to use in a reef tank. There is also a sand sold just for reef tanks called live sand which is full of good bacteria for the aquarium. Am I rambling? lol

Since you a reefer, ever heard of WWC?

Don't think so? Is that an acronym for a reef forum?

[saltyreefer]

Also I would add that I considered just driving to the beach with spade and a few 5 gallon buckets but decided against it as likely the sand at the beach probably has high salt content so if going that route I’d have to wash out the salt of the sand and just seemed like work so bought the play sand instead at HD.

-joe

Interesting beach sand is looked at like this here, in the reef/coral aquarium community we will use play sand also and cycle it to get the impurities out but beach sand is chock FULL of bad silicates and just plain too polluted to use in a reef tank. There is also a sand sold just for reef tanks called live sand which is full of good bacteria for the aquarium. Am I rambling? lol

Since you a reefer, ever heard of WWC?

Don't think so? Is that an acronym for a reef forum?

That must be the reef store in Orlando? I've been there once, Nice place for sure!!