tarev said:My little cycad has her new, fully opened leaves showing now. I like this stage a lot, new leaves still soft to the touch..no pokey stiff ends yet.


Interesting to see how its caudex looks like as if it is grafted to an old one..but it is not, the lower, drier looking part was the one I raised up, after I made the mistake of burying it before. Almost killed it..thankful it is a slow grower And upper portion now looks nice and just right.


Yea, you lost the original apex. The top rotted away and then regrew a new top from an upper leafbase near the top. Keeping the top of the stem buried would do that. Tom

Aww..such a resilient cycad..enduring me the cycad newbie

tarev said:Aww..such a resilient cycad..enduring me the cycad newbie

Cycads are such amazing plants. A single stem of some species can live to be 2500 years old. They can live that long sitting on top of solid rock without getting any nutrients from the soil because they have a secondary root system called coralloid roots that fixes it's own nitrogen. Stangerias can be cut up into little half inch pieces and each piece will make a new plant. Some produce brown emergent leaves, some have large spines, and all have special toxins in all parts of the plants just to make sure they don't get ravaged by all kinds of animals. Many of the female cones of cycads heat up (up to 15 degrees above ambient temperature) when they are receptive to pollination. To the pollinating insects who can see infrared light, they can see a receptive cone at night a half mile away.
How can you not be amazed by these ancient plants? On your sago with the rotted apex, I wrote something about 15 years ago on how to save cycads, even if all you have is just a piece of it left. It just goes to show you how tough they truly are.

http://cycadjungle.8m.com/cyca...

Some photos for today.

I was taking pictures of the greenhouse for another thread and thought I would take pictures of a few plants. I love variegated plants in general. Here are a couple of the Rhapis excelsa Japanese cultivar Zuikonishiki.

That is stunning.

Very nice Cycadjungle. I just had a some Variegated Foxy lady palms sprout.

Those look like they are going to turn out nice. I had a chance to buy a 14 footer at a trade show about five years ago for $200 but i didn't have a place to plant it since it was a few feet taller than any of my greenhouses. Did you buy seeds from a variegated plant, or are these some that just came up? I know there are seeds of that one and also var. Caryota mitis out there. I have a nice 8 foot tall variegated Caryota that is pushing a new leaf. Once it totally opens up, I'll be adding it to the database. Tom

Waiting for a much needed flush from this other cardboard palm caudex, it is down to 2 leaf stalks, need some more



I am beginning to see a trend, how this plant sacrifice a leaf or two, as it reallocates its resources to new growth, similar to what my other succulents are doing too.

Photo update of Zamia furfuracea for this August 2014. To better see the difference...just a before and after comparison:
Repotted after purchase March 2014


Photo this 13August 2014: new leaf stalks, leaves still on a nice soft felt-like stage. I am trying to see when it will assume the stiff cardboard look. For now still a nice softie and such longer span too compared to the older stalks.


And more leaf stalks showing..the nice toothbrush stage continues

On average, once the new leaves are full size, they take about 3 weeks to harden up. Tom

Thanks for the info Tom!

Fascinated by the cycads, is it possible to grow as houseplants in zone 8? Im on the edge of zone 7b and this past winter had low temps that had everyone's pipes bursting because we're not "supposed" to have temps that low. Do cycads adapt to life as houseplants?

I would like to know that too..am worried with this cardboard palm. I know my other cycad withstood being outdoors even at some hard freeze nights with some damage to the leaves later, but it quickly bounced back.

I have never grown them as houseplants yet...in some shade yes, but not inside the house.

Our recent heat wave has been quite good for my Zamia furfuracea! Seeing new growth!

Tom, your speech on cycads is fascinating. I didn't know any of those things. We are wanting to plant a line of cycads in our front yard. We're in Zone 10b, the front yard gets a LOT of sun and gently slopes to the street (well draining) and we are on a salt water canal.

I've got pachypodiums, giant specimen sized Uncarinas, dyckias, hechtias, agave and cactus all growing happily out there.

Any suggestions for an interesting cycad? I'm in love with Dioon and encephalartos but I fear it's too hot and toasty in the front.

As the heat wave goes on...our cycad shows a new batch of leaves getting ready to show! Always love this stage!

cycad flushing continues..going, going, going! I am glad we have this cycad thread, I saw my entries in July 2013, almost exact same time period when this cycad made its flush too.

Spectacular!

Just some photo updates of my cycad as the flushing period ensued:




And there they are, brand new batch of leaves for 2015!