Recipe No. 1

• In zones 10 and 11, tropical plants can live in your landscape or garden, but most people will grow their tropical plants in containers. In their native environment, tropical plants enjoy a rich, well-draining soil that is very moist approximately nine months of the year. Your homemade tropical potting soil must simulate that tropical environment.
  
  An all-purpose, fairly easy-to-make tropical potting soil recipe that will provide the correct pH and be fertile for your tropical plants begins with mixing two parts pure pine bark, two parts composted bark, and one part rice hull. To this, add about half a cup of charcoal pellets and mix. Using this mix, combine three parts of it with one part perlite, one part peat moss, and one part calcined clay. Mix very well and store in a sealed container like a plastic-lidded tub.
  
  

Recipe No. 2

• This recipe was developed to mirror tropical rain forest soil. It is high in organic matter and fast-draining. Mix the following ingredients thoroughly: Two parts moisture control potting soil, two parts sphagnum peat moss that you have broken into small pieces, one part small pieces cedar mulch, 1/2 part charcoal, one part perlite, one part orchid bark mix, and one part sphagnum moss you have cut into very small pieces
  
  Experiment with this recipe and adjust the quantities to suit your tropical plant. The moss and bark make the soil drain better and faster so your plant gets the moisture without being in soggy soil. You may wish to increase or decrease the different ingredients depending on your tropical plant's requirements.