Cycad cones and flushes

[dalmatiansoap]

Beautiful!

[Gary -]

Cycas Thouarsii

[Gary -]

E. Horridus.

[Gary -]

E. Horridus.

[Gary -]

Ceratozamia Latifolia. I really like this little guy.

[George Sparkman]

Nice series of Ceratozamia photos Gary !

[George Sparkman]

[Palmdude]

C. Debaoensis doing its thang

This was shade grown and got a bit sunburned on the pooldeck when I brought it home.

Will the new leaves burn too or will they acclimate to their new home? I've read that they could take some sun yes?

[OverGrown]

bump for one of my favorite posts

[Tracy]

I was walking the garden the other morning and saw that I got a 2 for 1 flush.  A new pup popping out of my Encephalartos horridus x woodii.  Matt Bradford came by to see my garden after joining me for a morning surf yesterday. When we got to this cycad he noted the hint of salmon pink coloring on the flush.  He shared that he has heard that the coloring is a common woodii trait.  I hadn't noticed on previous flushes.  This was one of the transplants from my Carlsbad yard, and its first flush in Leucadia.  It is a good sign it is settling into its new home!  So, is it accurate that the new woodii flushes sometimes have a pink tint?

[Tracy]

My other woodii hybrid has been growing in Leucadia for almost 6 years now, so is fully acclimated to its setting and is putting out much larger flushes.  This is an E arenarius x woodii hybrid.  A very nice deep green color to the foliage!

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

March and August seem to be the triggers for blue Encephalartos to flush here.  This is the second year in a row that they have flushed twice per year. Lehmanii, Horridus and Trispinosus.

[yeye]

What is your secret Joseph?

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Cycas debaoensis's flushing 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Coontie cones

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

First time this Zamia has coned. I believe it to be a portoricensis. 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Assorted pics.  Smaller ferox and natalensis (2-4" caudex) have flushed 4 times this year already. I'll keep them in the greenhouse so i may get 6 flushes on these two species which are undoubtedly the fastest encephalartos that i have by a long shot. My two smaller (5-6") Lepidozamia peroffskyana just hardened the leaves on their 3rd flush and i just noticed today that they are both flushing again. My larger lepidozamia (9-10") hardened off its third flush of the year. 

Zamia portoricensis,  coontie, and cardboards seem to being in a constant flush from april to november. 

I applied Tom's fertilizer to all the larger cycads in June and it looks to be pretty good stuff.  I always used osmacote on the cycads before this june. 

[5150cycad]

Encephalartos munchiI

Edited August 29, 2016 by 5150cycad

[5150cycad]

13 minutes ago, 5150cycad said:

Encephalartos Manikensis

[5150cycad]

19 minutes ago, 5150cycad said:

Here are some pictures of stuff that is flushing/coning around the yard. 

 

Encephalartos munchiI

Encephalartos Kisambo

 

Encephalartos True Blue Arenarius 

Encephalartos Manikensis

Encephalartos Lehmanii

Encephalartos Horridus

Encephalartos Princeps

[Tracy]

On 8/28/2016, 5:09:40, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

I applied Tom's fertilizer to all the larger cycads in June and it looks to be pretty good stuff.  I always used osmacote on the cycads before this june.

I'm not familiar with Tom's fertilizer, any particular mix?  I have been using the Osmocote slow release 15-9-12 on my cycads since I started growing them.  I don't get the same number of flushes, but I also don't get the heat that you likely do during summer.  My summer highs vary from the high 70's to high 80's with probably about 82 being the mean... (not a statistical average, just my best guess after watching thermometers.  Most Encephalartos once established are once a year flush for me, but when smaller may push out multiple small 1 or 2 leaf flushes.  Cycas genus are definitely the most vigorous with 2 or sometimes 3 flushes. Some of my Ceratozamia's may skip a year in flushing and just push a cone in the off years now, but were 1 or 2 flushes a year when smaller.  Young seedlings I've had in pots for a while, but finally in the ground, and pushing the second round flush (E inopinus and E dyerianus and E dyerianus closeup).  The inopinus already has a pup on it, and the dyerianus is actually about 5 heads even at this tiny stage.

[Tracy]

This Ceratozamia latifolia or latifolia hybrid, was moved in a pot in October 2014 to my current home.  It's first flush was this summer, and only 2 leaves followed by a cone.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed it had another new leaf pushing, but only one, so it's still pretty sparse.  It must not have liked the change in exposure or had some trauma.

[Tracy]

One more observation.  Over the years, I have had some Encephalartos which have "oozed" a starchy substance between flushes, but always from the caudex.  I never stressed, as they always seemed to get over it, and push a flush, although this did slow things down.  It usually happened with something which was growing very fast up to that point.  This year I have noticed a starchy substance on my Encephalartos turneri.  It first was on the leaf tips as a flush opened, so I thought it just oozed out at the same time as the flush.  After the flush hardened off, it continues to leak the stuff from leaf tips and leaflets near the tip of the leaves.  Its not been a problem, just an observation and the first time I have seen it happen like this.  Here is where it's happening on the plant in the first photo, and then a closer up look.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Tracy, A few of the smaller horridus, lehmanii and trispinosus are pushing their third flush this year but they are only 1-2" caudex sized plants.  I only use osmacote on them.  

Ill have to get the info off of the bag of toms fertilizer. 

Our average high in june, july and august is 91, 95 & 97 degrees and i keep the large blue encephalartos in 100% sun, so I'm sure that helps quite a bit as well. All of the blue encephalartos i get from california burn the first year, but after that they acclimate and flush very silver/blue. 

The only time I see that discharge is after i remove a pup, or cut the leaves.  I've never seen it during a flush, nor ooze from a leaf tip. That seems odd. 

[Tracy]

2 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

The only time I see that discharge is after i remove a pup, or cut the leaves.  I've never seen it during a flush, nor ooze from a leaf tip.

As you can see, no apparent damage to the leaf where that is oozing on the E turneri.  I have an E lehmannii, that oozed from where a flush should have emerged for months, back in 2012.  It finally pulled through and stopped oozing, and is acting quite normal now.  The main caudex is just now flushing on that one with nice color.  The older leaflets on that are relatively green now, as much of the wax has been removed from rain from last winter.

[Tracy]

Loved watching this Zamia standleyi open this 2 leaf flush, but the leaves are much bigger than the previous flushes.  Finally starting to come into it's own.  I keep this in a spot where it's only getting about 3-4 hours of full sun in summer, late morning through to about noon.

[annafl]

Encephalartos sclavoi with a late flush this year.  Was hoping it would finally cone, but it was even late to flush.  Maybe next year!

 

 

[Palm Tree Jim]

10 hours ago, annafl said:

Encephalartos sclavoi with a late flush this year.  Was hoping it would finally cone, but it was even late to flush.  Maybe next year!

 

 

Nice flush.....

[Tracy]

11 hours ago, annafl said:

Encephalartos sclavoi with a late flush this year.

Nice looking sclavoi.  I just planted one this summer, so I'm enjoy seeing what I have to look forward to!

[annafl]

Thanks, Tracy.  It's a nice sized cycad.  Not too large, and a rather compact grower.  One of my favorites for sure.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

On 10/6/2016, 12:59:11, annafl said:

Encephalartos sclavoi with a late flush this year.  Was hoping it would finally cone, but it was even late to flush.  Maybe next year!

 

 

 

It certainly looks happy in that location. In fact so perfectly grown that it almost looks fake in those pictures. 

[5150cycad]

Late flush of an encephalartos munchii. This picture was taken about three weeks ago. Wouldn't be able to tell by this picture but as the leaves are starting to harden off, it is really starting to show some of its blue. 

[5150cycad]

Natalensis x woodii (f2) starting to harden off. Finally a new flush not destroyed by the rabbits. 

[Tracy]

12 hours ago, 5150cycad said:

Finally a new flush not destroyed by the rabbits

Hooray!  As long as we wait between flushes, it has to be pretty frustrating when the rabbits mess with your cycads!  My cycads have done well this year, especially the ones that finally got out of pots and into the ground.  I can really see how some were held back due to being in pots for a long time.

[annafl]

20 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

It certainly looks happy in that location. In fact so perfectly grown that it almost looks fake in those pictures. 

Thanks, (I think), Texas!  If you need proof let me know and I'll take another photo of the progressing flush?  It's actually one, if not my most favorite cycad I own for that very reason.  I think lots of sun and a good bit of water with perfect drainage is the key to this one.  I actually just took a photo of my male encephalartos that's bringing five cones this year!  You can only see four in this photo.  Every year it brings one more than the last.  

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

It was a compliment. Nice male ferox there as well. I didnt know this species would produce 5+ cones. Ferox are fantastic cycads that aren't utilized enough. I have a few in the ground now to see if they can handle 8B up against a brick building. 

[talkjk]

[talkjk]

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

1 hour ago, talkjk said:

 

 

 

Trevor, what species are we looking at? Looks like a few encephalartos and maybe a stangeria or zamia?

[annafl]

20 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

It was a compliment. Nice male ferox there as well. I didnt know this species would produce 5+ cones. Ferox are fantastic cycads that aren't utilized enough. I have a few in the ground now to see if they can handle 8B up against a brick building. 

Thanks!  This is the most cones this male ferox has had.  I don't know if they're capable of more?  I have a female that coned once before, two years ago with one, huge cone!  What a beauty.  This year I was disappointed to see only one smaller, off-center one, and a couple of days ago I realized it's going to have three!  I didn't even know they could have that many!  I'm thrilled and will have to post that one when they're fully exposed in a month or two.

Trevor, those double yellow cones are magnificent!  What is that?  None of my other encephalartos have coned, so I'm learning as I go here!  This thread has been great for that.