Cycad cones and flushes

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I went through my cycad book and it says the following about Ferox:  "Female cones: usually one to three but in old, very large plants as many as five..."  "Male cones: one to three, in larger plants sometimes as many as 10"

[Brian]

Here's one that you dont see flush too often. Photos were taken about 3 weeks apart.

 

[Brian]

This Encephalartos cross puts out a nice bronze flush

 

[5150cycad]

3 minutes ago, Brian said:

This Encephalartos cross puts out a nice bronze flush

 

Those are some great pictures Brian. What cross is that? Very interesting with the bronze emerging leaves. I want to start a new thread with encephalartos crosses. I know there are quite a few of them out there. 

[Brian]

Zamia splendens flush and female cone with fertile seeds

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

26 minutes ago, Brian said:

Here's one that you dont see flush too often. Photos were taken about 3 weeks apart.

 

 

 

Dioon Meijiae? Am I warm?

[Brian]

4 minutes ago, 5150cycad said:

Those are some great pictures Brian. What cross is that? Very interesting with the bronze emerging leaves. I want to start a new thread with encephalartos crosses. I know there are quite a few of them out there. 

Thanks. I believe it was transvenosus x latifons. 

[5150cycad]

That is an awesome cross. I have two both quite a bit smaller than the one you had pictured. Here is a picture of one of them. 

[Brian]

13 minutes ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

Dioon Meijiae? Am I warm?

Close but futher north (Michoacan). Here is another flush of the same species.

[5150cycad]

15 minutes ago, Brian said:

Close but futher north (Michoacan). Here is another flush of the same species.

Is it dioon argenteum?

[Brian]

2 minutes ago, 5150cycad said:

Is it dioon argenteum?

Dioon tomasellii. Probably the southern most part of its range. 

[Tracy]

36 minutes ago, Brian said:

Thanks. I believe it was transvenosus x latifons. 

 

32 minutes ago, 5150cycad said:

That is an awesome cross. I have two both quite a bit smaller than the one you had pictured. Here is a picture of one of them. 

Interesting hybrid Brian, but not what I would have expected.  I would have expected tighter spacing on the leaflets with a E trans x lat more like in 5150's post.  What sort of sun exposure does yours get, perhaps that explains the difference in leaflet spacing.  I don't have a trans x lat hybrid, but I do have a couple of E arenarius x lat hybrids which just recently came out of bands and went into the ground.  Too small to really show their personalities yet, but based on their response to getting into the ground, I'm guessing they have plenty of hybrid vigor.  My understanding is that pure E latifrons is slow as molasses, at least when small.

[Brian]

29 minutes ago, 5150cycad said:

I have two both quite a bit smaller than the one you had pictured. Here is a picture of one of them.

Wow, thats a super cool looking plant. Much differnet then mine. I have two and both look the same. I probably got the names mixed up and yours is true and mine is something else. I believe the seed of mine came from Randy Decker so he would be the one to ID it. 

[5150cycad]

I have had plants come from the same batch of seeds that looked quite different so I wouldn't count it out. I have never met him but I have seen a lot of the stuff that he has posted in the past and it all seems to be true to whatever he lists it as. I love encephalartos crosses.

[Brian]

16 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Interesting hybrid Brian, but not what I would have expected.  I would have expected tighter spacing on the leaflets with a E trans x lat more like in 5150's post.  What sort of sun exposure does yours get, perhaps that explains the difference in leaflet spacing.  I don't have a trans x lat hybrid, but I do have a couple of E arenarius x lat hybrids which just recently came out of bands and went into the ground.  Too small to really show their personalities yet, but based on their response to getting into the ground, I'm guessing they have plenty of hybrid vigor.  My understanding is that pure E latifrons is slow as molasses, at least when small.

They get full sun at 18N on the coast. The sun is very intense here.  They grow very fast and flush 3 to 4 times a year. The leaflets curl in a cigar shape on both plants. The bronze flush really makes it stands out and is why I wanted to post it here. Im sure I got the name wrong and its something else but who knows what. 

[annafl]

2 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

I went through my cycad book and it says the following about Ferox:  "Female cones: usually one to three but in old, very large plants as many as five..."  "Male cones: one to three, in larger plants sometimes as many as 10"

Wow, it can be quite prolific!  Thanks for checking.  I guess I'm keeping my feroxes happy.

[5150cycad]

1 hour ago, Brian said:

They get full sun at 18N on the coast. The sun is very intense here.  They grow very fast and flush 3 to 4 times a year. The leaflets curl in a cigar shape on both plants. The bronze flush really makes it stands out and is why I wanted to post it here. Im sure I got the name wrong and its something else but who knows what. 

My trans x lati get full blazing Escondido sun. I think my house got up to 105 this summer. That leaf curl is very interesting. 

[Tracy]

17 hours ago, Brian said:

They get full sun at 18N on the coast. The sun is very intense here.  They grow very fast and flush 3 to 4 times a year. The leaflets curl in a cigar shape on both plants

So the E trans x lat are growing at your Michoacan location.  The leaflet curl looks great on those!  A closeup photo of the leaflets would be great to see.  With long lived plants like cycads adding in that they are hybrids, its always possible that they will continue changing appearance and the gaps between leaflets will tighten up.  It is fun and interesting to watch how plants in the Encephalartos genus can change as they go from seedlings to juvenile, then adolescent phases, before reaching their adult appearance.  Many of my Encephalartos are still just entering juvenile age, with a couple in adolescents and beginning to cone.

[Brian]

8 hours ago, Tracy said:

A closeup photo of the leaflets would be great to see. 

Here are a few from last year

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, Brian said:

I like that leaflet shape.  It is very elegant in appearance.

[5150cycad]

Encephalartos Lehmannii Male Cone

[5150cycad]

Encephalartos Horridus Male Cone

[5150cycad]

Late flush of my best form of Encephalartos Horridus. This one is a female as it was a pup off a female plant. Can't wait for it to cone so I can pollinate it and get some seed. 

[Tracy]

18 minutes ago, 5150cycad said:

Encephalartos Lehmannii

Classic yellow collars on those leaf bases of the lehmannii.  You are getting very nice color on your blues in Escondido.  Plenty of sun and heat to bring out the best in them!  It makes a difference.  In the very un-Leucadia tract that was built next to me, one of the homeowners landscape contractors sold him an E princeps to go along with a bunch of craned in King palms.  I watched thinking that the crane was more expensive than the palms, but I digress.  The E princeps was planted in the front, north facing garden with a tree overhanging it and more large boxed King palms planted to shade it.  Add to that it was planted in a well, as opposed to upraised.  While it has flushed since planting, any hint of blue is gone and it is as green as my E turnerii.  Sad to watch such a nice plant get treated that way, but no one knew any better. 

[5150cycad]

1 hour ago, Tracy said:

Classic yellow collars on those leaf bases of the lehmannii.  You are getting very nice color on your blues in Escondido.  Plenty of sun and heat to bring out the best in them!  It makes a difference.  In the very un-Leucadia tract that was built next to me, one of the homeowners landscape contractors sold him an E princeps to go along with a bunch of craned in King palms.  I watched thinking that the crane was more expensive than the palms, but I digress.  The E princeps was planted in the front, north facing garden with a tree overhanging it and more large boxed King palms planted to shade it.  Add to that it was planted in a well, as opposed to upraised.  While it has flushed since planting, any hint of blue is gone and it is as green as my E turnerii.  Sad to watch such a nice plant get treated that way, but no one knew any better. 

I agree 100%. Most of my cycads are in direct sun. I think with all the blue Encephalartos species the more sun they get the better as u mentioned. However with the green Encephalartos, some of them don't like full sun. I have managed to get some of them to adapt slowly but i dug some up and sold them because I got sick of looking at the caudex with no leaves. You should tell your neighbor about your thoughts on the princeps. That is a shame.  When they get full sun, they are one of the most beautiful and blue Encephalartos. I recently sold one of my nice princeps which I kinda regret, but At least I know it went to a good home. 

[Palm Tree Jim]

3 hours ago, 5150cycad said:

I agree 100%. Most of my cycads are in direct sun. I think with all the blue Encephalartos species the more sun they get the better as u mentioned. However with the green Encephalartos, some of them don't like full sun. I have managed to get some of them to adapt slowly but i dug some up and sold them because I got sick of looking at the caudex with no leaves. You should tell your neighbor about your thoughts on the princeps. That is a shame.  When they get full sun, they are one of the most beautiful and blue Encephalartos. I recently sold one of my nice princeps which I kinda regret, but At least I know it went to a good home. 

And I thank you for that princeps!

It didn't miss a beat during the move.

[5150cycad]

Glad to hear that Jim! You should post a picture of it. I am glad to hear the transplant went well. They are pretty tough plants. 

[Brian]

8 hours ago, 5150cycad said:

Late flush of my best form of Encephalartos Horridus. This one is a female as it was a pup off a female plant. Can't wait for it to cone so I can pollinate it and get some seed. 

Wow, that's an awesome plant! Let me know if you have extra seed some day, Id love to buy some.

[5150cycad]

1 hour ago, Brian said:

Wow, that's an awesome plant! Let me know if you have extra seed some day, Id love to buy some.

Thanks Brian. It still hasn't coned yet but is a guaranteed female. It might take a while to cone but once she does, I will definitely have some seeds for sale (assuming I get good pollination. 

[Palm Tree Jim]

20 hours ago, 5150cycad said:

Late flush of my best form of Encephalartos Horridus. This one is a female as it was a pup off a female plant. Can't wait for it to cone so I can pollinate it and get some seed. 

Great to see this late flush.

Did you get any second flushes this year?

[5150cycad]

19 minutes ago, Palm Tree Jim said:

Great to see this late flush.

Did you get any second flushes this year?

I had some that flushed twice this year but not a lot. And also some that didn't flush at all

[Yunder Wækraus]

On 10/9/2016, 5:43:19, Brian said:

Here's one that you dont see flush too often. Photos were taken about 3 weeks apart.

 

Magnificent!

[Palm Tree Jim]

5 hours ago, 5150cycad said:

I had some that flushed twice this year but not a lot. And also some that didn't flush at all

Same here but I has many double flush.......must be that secret fertilizer I have been using.

 

[5150cycad]

Late flushing Encephalartos Cerinus. Looks like the Santa Anas blew it around a little bit.

[Tracy]

3 minutes ago, 5150cycad said:

Late flushing Encephalartos Cerinus.

Not sure if its late or this is when E Cerinus should be flushing in our part of the world.  Mine is just finishing a flush right now too.  The fact that mine finally got in the ground late this Spring early Summer may have nudged it a little too.  Is this a second flush for you this year?

[5150cycad]

1 hour ago, Tracy said:

Not sure if its late or this is when E Cerinus should be flushing in our part of the world.  Mine is just finishing a flush right now too.  The fact that mine finally got in the ground late this Spring early Summer may have nudged it a little too.  Is this a second flush for you this year?

This is my second flush this year which is not uncommon for this species, at least in my experience. For my Cerinus, it pushes 2 flushes during a growing season (March-October) every other year. Can't compare to my other ones because they are seedlings. Most of my bigger cycads flush only once in a growing season. There are also times where the bigger cycads don't flush at all. I have found that same species usually flush all around the same time (especially princeps). There are always exceptions to the rules that (cones, transplanting, removing pups, planting out from a container, fertilizer/no fertilizer, defoliation due to frost or heat, etc.) can change the overall growth rate and number of flushes a cycad can get in a season. I have had had seedlings that have flushed 4 times in a season, but typically they flush only 2 times In a season. 

Your cycad was probably happy to get out of its container. Cycads grow so much faster in the ground. I like to plant in March/April because it gives the cycad time to get established and to hopefully flush by the end of the growing season. I think u timed it absolutely perfectly. It should have plenty of time to harden off before we get any frosts (Escondido) which probably doesnt apply to you in Leucadia. Can you post some pictures of your Cerinus? Thank you

[Tracy]

On 10/13/2016, 10:36:01, 5150cycad said:

Your cycad was probably happy to get out of its container. Cycads grow so much faster in the ground. I like to plant in March/April because it gives the cycad time to get established and to hopefully flush by the end of the growing season. I think u timed it absolutely perfectly. It should have plenty of time to harden off before we get any frosts (Escondido) which probably doesnt apply to you in Leucadia. Can you post some pictures of your Cerinus? Thank you

Yes... very happy to get out of the container and into the ground.  Just a young juvenile still.  This was a flush of 5, and you can see the slight color difference in the last to open, as they haven't quite hardened off yet.

[Tracy]

On 10/13/2016, 10:36:01, 5150cycad said:

Most of my bigger cycads flush only once in a growing season. There are also times where the bigger cycads don't flush at all. I have found that same species usually flush all around the same time (especially princeps).

My spring flushes are always later than those inland, probably due to the lack of heat, and in normal years, my "May Grey, June Gloom".  Somewhere you mentioned your E whitelockii.  Those take up some space!  I just put in a couple of E whitelockii x sclavoi.  The pollen was from a blue sclavoi, so I'm hoping that the result is hint of the blue and smaller than the mother.  Here is one, using it against a south facing wall, so that it gets plenty of winter heat.

[Tracy]

One more, my multiheaded Encephalartos dyerianus.  I moved this from a band into a citrus tree pot about 19 months ago, and then put it into the ground this last spring.  It was going crazy with the main caudex putting out 4 pups while still in the citrus pot.  The flushes were always small as it seemed it was putting its energy into so many different directions.  The flushes since it has been in the ground are more substantial now.  Not sure what this will look like as it gets bigger, but it will be interesting to see.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Morning dew on a lehmanii flush.