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Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite HOF

Thank you!

Back from grow room. Community garden and on the balcony fortress 4. floor in the shadow...

I’m thinking you should plant Calamus radicalis along your front entrance. If he tries to go near it you will find him in the morning tangled up in it. A palm that fights back.

Hmmm... it just rained so I guess the Mg has already leached into the soil. Not much I can do now but I won't add salts again. Thank God I only gave 50gr and not 100gr as recommended. Tomorrow I will apply Fe-EDDHA and repeat in 20 days.

Syagrus is not very tolerant of salty soil, magnesium antagonizes potassium and in our soils and rain pattern and water quality potassium deficiency is much more likely. We ain't living in Florida with coral substrate and frequent rain during summer. Have you looked in the web for magnesium deficiency symptoms in Arecastrum? It is a very widespread and common sp in cultivation, therefore it is very probable, that you find very specialized information.

I thought it might be Mg deficiency. Why was it a mistake? Because too much N can make K-deficiency worse?

It makes sense now. With -4 in my garden i woud be left with only few palms alive, among them certainly not Chrysalidocarpus.

No, for the whole pot. Plus shipping

Epsom was a mistake. How did you come to this solution, recommended by someone?

Hoi Konstantinos, I always value your expert perspective, and I know that your long-standing friendship with Gyuseppe is built on exactly this kind of deep botanical passion. 😊 To give you some technical data: The plant survived short periods of -4°C to -5°C on the balcony this winter. Crucially, there were no ice days (Tmax stayed above 0°C), allowing the plant to recover daily. This confirms that the 'Balkon-Fortress' at 443m provides enough protection to prevent the core from freezing. You are right to be cautious—the Swiss Pre-Alps at 443m are a different world compared to the Mediterranean soil. However, my 'Balkon-Fortress' creates a very specific micro-climate. My Intertronic station recorded 18.1°C yesterday on the wall, while the air was much cooler. The best proof is the plant itself: a fresh green spear is now emerging from the center! It seems the 'Arbon-Sog' is more powerful than expected. I’m happy to keep you, Gyuseppe and all updated on this vertical experiment! Best regards, Mazat PS: Ich schätze Dich sehr und freue mich jedes Mal auf deine Inputs.

Sequestrene eddha you mean Fe-EDDHA? I will give it today. I also gave slow release fertilizer, Epsom salts and sulfur pellets this week!

It seems I might have to get up to the Gibraltar range and get a few seeds, only a short drive away from home!

One plant that I definitely thought and read that would not take the cool weather was the piper magnificum. Taking temperatures down to 2 degrees Celsius and sitting in the back part of the greenhouse without much warmth in winter. It came through last winter like it was a spring break. So much so I had to buy another plant, iam quite confident it would live in the ground given enough water in summer in my climate. So don’t believe all you read this plant is cool tolerant! Another zone push winner!

Ante, those had been given to me as seedlings by Dražen Travica. Very robust plants, but slow growers because of the lack of adequate water and the competition with older and more established palms and bananas. Alone the fact that they survive and grow bigger at any rate is a plus. The seem also quite easy regarding soil consistency. 9

Each new leaf on the dypsis basilonga just gets better and better, followed by y a nice young Dypsis utilis leaf and don’t forget the vonitra Dransfeildii for putting on a nice new leaf for a bit of colour!

Spring is entering gradually and new growth starts appearing on Bismarckia and Nannorrhops. Which one is more blue in your opinion?

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Tell him it’s a Sentour that he really wants!

Hoi Mazat, what was the min temperature this palm has been exposed to? Mine in the ground was exposed in the aerial part to 1C but looks much better than yours.

A nice fat Ferox cone, and an unknown cycas with a nice flush!

A nice young standelyi leaf!

Got it thanks

Iron and potassium deficiency cause for some reason they are there but not available to the plant. Second picture displays a palm in trouble. If you let it so it will sooner or later get infected by root fungi, which are always there but not harmful to a robustly growing palm. Start with a good dose of sequestrene eddha and, were I you, also a dose of root fungicide tolclofos-methyl. But latter is up to you. Former is indispensable. The fact that you have experienced a rainy winter supports the theory of iron deficiency.

She is a bit light lime green yellow looking. Most likely at first look nitrogen, but a complete NPK with trace elements should give her a bit more green, could even be in a hot spot but being a syagrus I doubt that. Some good old blood and bone with a good feed of chicken poo should do the trick if you want to go organic!