Drainage Test

Good Morning,

Yesterday I tested my drainage. Here are the results in a series of photos. It finished draining sometime between 13 and 21 hours later. (I went to bed so I'm didn't exactly see when it finished, but it was drained when I got up the next day.) I'm guessing it took about 15 hours total. The hole was as deep as a 15 gallon pot and twice as wide.

I know I have clay soil underneath this top soil, but is this considered poor drainage? I've been told that 6 hours was excellent, 24 was doable, and anything more than 24 was a problem. I'm trying to determine what type of palm to put here. I'd like the king but they don't like soggy roots, and the other alternative is a majesty which likes boggy conditions - is this considered boggy?

This is probably a really dumb question, and I'm sure the photo is not very exciting but I thought it would help to see it. :)

Thanks a bunch! Christina :-))

I would consider that "boggy". Although, I'm used to Florida soil. If I did the same experiment in my yard that water would have drained in five minutes.

I planted a majesty palm in my yard and the thing has been rock steady. It's been through three hurricanes and still going strong. It does like a lot of water, but can withstand short peroids of dryness. The only other observations I have to add is that it does MUCH better with some shade and in FL it likes lots of fertilizer.

Chris

It does seem like it's a little more forgiving. I tend to overwater more than underwater, so perhaps this would be the way to go. I've heard about the furtilizer too, but that seems easy. Thanks for writing!

Where I used to live just outside of Los Angeles I could dig a hole, fill it with water, and it would still have water in it a week later. Nearly pure clay.. yet many palms did fine in it. Majesty was one of them. Kings actually did OK, too, and Queens, Serenoa, Phoenix species and many Braheas.

wow a week later?! Good thing it doesn't rain often in southern california. :) I'm feeling pretty good about my 15 hours now.