Cycad cones and flushes

January 11, 2011

In my facebook account I posted pics of my cycads. I think this link will work for any one with a face book account.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47339&id=100000050464040

I'm not done posting pics there. They are posted earliest pics first.

I will be dating the pics soon too.

Randy

January 15, 2011

Randy,

killer shots man, your yard has come along way. Good job man!

January 15, 2011

e.arenarius15.jpg

Happy growing,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

January 15, 2011

A couple of pics inside the greenhouse and sun room this morning.

January 17, 2011

e.horridus43.jpg

Happy growing,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

January 17, 2011

Nice George,

That big momma looks fat and happy!! I still need to make it out your way one of these days!

Palmfreek

January 17, 2011

e.horridus117.jpg

Happy growing,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

January 21, 2011

The horridus females sure look great George.

I hope my little grouping will end up looking that good some day.

Michael

January 21, 2011

Here is another Encephalartos horridus female. This time in a 15 gallon pot.

The caudex is almost the size of the pot.

e.horridus15g14fem.jpg

Happy growing,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

January 22, 2011

george nice plants!!! :drool: :drool: :drool:

January 28, 2011

Thanks Brett.

A really blue E.longifolius flushing really green.

e.longifolius89.jpg

Happy growing,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

January 29, 2011

This is E.longifolius "Blunt-Tip".

I have a few like this one with very short leaflets and a few with regular length leaflets.

I prefer the "short-leaflet" look.

I will get a close-up picture of the tips when it is less windy (the pics I took were all blurry).

e.longifolius134.jpg

Happy growing,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

January 29, 2011

Nice nice nice, in still waiting for my guys to wake up with this couple weeks of nice weather. Hopefully soon!

January 31, 2011

I bought this plant thinking it was E. natalensis. I have had a couple people feel positive it is E. natalensis. A few weeks ago I was looking at it, it accured to me that it looks different than the E. natalensis I reccently planted next to it. E. nats leaflets reduce down in size gradually as they are closer to the caudex. E. longifolius only has a few or no small leaflets as they are closer to tha caudex. The leaflets feel different too. E. nats are stiff. E. longifolius are bendy like thin card board.

Anyways here's the pics!

Thanks,

Randy

February 5, 2011

This is pretty much the opposite of "Blunt-Tip".

"Blue-Lobsterclaw-Wildthing" longifolius.

e.longifolius137.jpg

Happy growing,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

February 6, 2011

The "Blue-Lobsterclaw-Wildthing" longifolius really looks wild!

Michel

February 6, 2011

Lobsterclaws or scorpions that thing is wild looking. It's always neat to see the variation in same species. I look forward to this years growing season as last year was a bit slow here on the coast because it never really warmed up.

Do you have stuff starting to flush George? Anything blue? These last few weeks of nice weather but still cold at night I'd think things would start waking up

February 8, 2011

Hi Brett,

most of the E.longifolius have flushed within the last 2 months.

Lehmannii seems to never stop and of course the Central African species don't know it is winter so they flush.

A bunch of Whitelokiis flushed a few days prior to one of those really cold nights followed by stiff winds - well, a lost flush for some.

Happy growing,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

February 8, 2011

Yeah George, I think at your location you get warmer during the day and possibly cooler at night where I am getting a more constant temperature but don't get the heat they need to start doing anything. I have a lehamnii that started flushing early winter then just stopped when it got a little chilly and just began to carry on. I have a few longys and a couple horridus that did not push for me last year so I'm hoping they do something this year. Do you feel that most plants growing in the right conditions will flush every year? Or do some plants like the Eugene complex skip years?

February 15, 2011

I have a lehamnii that started flushing early winter then just stopped when it got a little chilly and just began to carry on. I have a few longys and a couple horridus that did not push for me last year so I'm hoping they do something this year. Do you feel that most plants growing in the right conditions will flush every year?

I have a whitelockii that began to flush in January and it just stopped. The flush doesn't even look like it's growing anymore. I also have a lehmanii "kirkwood" and a blue longifolios, both with 8" caudexes that haven't flushed since May 2009. I am expecting huge flushes from these this spring/summer. Keeping my fingers crossed.

February 16, 2011

I try to keep my Cycads cool and dry during the winter so they don't flush. It usually works. But this fall, I had a whitelockii outdoors a little longer than it should have been, and all its leaves fried at about 26F. Dioon mejiae's leaves were also toasted.

I brought the whitelockii into my living room at room temp, and last month it started a new flush of leaves, presumably to replace all its lost leaves. I can't find a spot indoors with enough good overhead light so I set up a 175W MH lamp directly overhead and it seems to be doing the trick. Now I will have to slowly acclimate this plant to real sun or else the new leaves will burn. I sure hope I can get it to flush a new set later this summer under real outdoor conditions.

All of my Encephalartos flush annually unless they were repotted, in which case they tend to skip a season. Still waiting for my Longifolius to flush...