Most professional growers use Sun Gro potting soil. They have several great potting soils. Call your local nursery supplies dealer for Sun Gro products.

Here's a selection from Sun Gro:
(1) Metro-Mix Perennial I (70% composted bark, 20% peat, 15% perlite, starter fertilizer 11-9-6, dolomite)
(2) Metro-Mix Perennial II (50% composted bark, 35% peat, 15% perlite, starter fertilizer 11-9-6, dolomite)
(3)Metro-Mix 366 Coir (35% composted bark, 30% coir, 35% vermiculite, starter fertilizer 11-9-6, dolomite)

Any one will work fine for you; however, call your local Sun Gro representative and get more product information.

regards,
Markywonder

I have tried several different custom mixes and the fastest growth has been obtained from cheap Lowes topsoil and vermiculite. This mixture has a P.H. of 7.0-7.5.

THANKS !

steve thats good to hear! I recently bought a few bags of the cheap lowes topsoil bags. I also just oday got some more vermiculite to help lighten it up.

I plan to use this to start queen and butia seeds also.

what all have you compare this soil too?

I've always thought the best clue to "growing on" a plant, was to try to achieve a potting mix similar to what the growers seemed to use and many years ago, the mix with my mailorder palms seemed to be more like the one with composted bark, perhaps some charcoal, and tons of grit, which gave a fsst draining but moisture retaining type mix, and also a very loose non-compacting type mix. It's been hard to find anything similar locally and recently since I've been using premium Miacle Gro for houseplants, and couldn't find any at my usual source, I substituted a new Miracle Gro "Organic Mix", which I unfortunately find stays wet for weeks despite adding tons of perlite to the mix. I do hope my prized Arenga survives the constantly wet conditions, and I'd still think most of the cheaper mixes are much too heavy even with ammendments to dry as quickly as they should in cooler conditions. Oh well, but just my opinion, and much depends on your personal watering habits of course!!

Fritoxtreme,
I tried various percentages of composted cow manure, potting soils, topsoils, Canadian sphagnum peat moss, pinefines, pine chips, hardwood bark, and sand of different particle sizes.

I have very high humidity so this 50/50 mixture works pretty well. If I want the soil to maintain a higher moisture content I add Canadian sphagnum peat moss or add a thin layer of pine bark on top.

I have used the standard 50/50 mix for over thirty species of palms with success. It works especially well for Bismarck palms. What convinced me was when I potted up Bismarckia seedlings into other mixtures and then potted up seedling in the 50/50 mix 6-8 weeks later and the later planted stuff had 50% more leaves by the time lows were going into the forties!

Sorry, if I've not read your post correctly, but I see the one post talks about a fifty-fifty mix, which only has a smaller maount of 'inorganic" ammendments for extra drainage, or did you mean you use fifty percent organic with fifty percent inorganics added? I'd have to add it's funny how just wetting some potting mixes differently will yeild different results in the way they form their own basic structures , when used for potting, and I found adding water sparingly to dry peat based mixes prior to putting them in pots leads to a larger textured and much faster draining mix, while using the dry stuff and then soaking it afterwards, leads to a finer texture and more prone to slower drying and more compacting perhaps. Just an observation, and I hope not too confusing!! It's really more about "mechanics" moreso than the actual ingredients used.

Birdinthepalm,
I don't worry about the amount of composted organics in the potting soil. I just prefer that it be well composted or I may have problems with binding of nitrogen, manganese, and especially iron.

By 50/50, I was referring to equal portions of topsoil with vermiculite. Lowes topsoil is mostly composted hardwood and pine bark with a little fly ash and sand.