Cycad cones and flushes

[Tracy]

E arenarius hybrid male cone shedding some pollen.  It is not TSA carry on approved.

[Tracy]

The male Encephalartos longifolius cones are getting ready to launch some pollen too.  The one cone in the photos is just going from being a chunky monkey to it's elongated stage where it will start shedding pollen.  The other one is following close behind with changes apparent almost daily now.  It's fun to watch this process unfold, or in this case perhaps the appropriate word would be "erupt".

[Merlyn]

'Twas the Sunday before Christmas, and all around the house...all the cycads were stirring, and ignoring the mouse...

Once again there are about 10-15 cycads flushing right now.  I think the Thanksgiving cold front and subsequent warmup convinced them to flush.  Fortunately there isn't a Christmas night frost forecast this year.  Temperatures may dip into the mid-40s tomorrow night, but will go back to the normal 50s and 60s as lows through the end of the year.  Hopefully these will all harden up before our first big cold front!

Here's a few of the Encephalartos flushing, clockwise from top left is a Laurentianus, another Laurentianus, an unknown hybrid from @Meangreen94z, a formerly unidentified big green one that looks like a Whitelockii/Ituriensis/Equatorialis type to me, and a Transvenosus.

 

 

[Tracy]

9 hours ago, Merlyn said:

Temperatures may dip into the mid-40s tomorrow night, but will go back to the normal 50s and 60s as lows through the end of the year.  Hopefully these will all harden up before our first big cold front!

The challenge is always that the flushes progress slower this time of year due to less heat and shorter period of daylight.  This leaves them vulnerable that much longer for inclement weather conditions.  Hopefully they will progress quickly and as you say, harden off before any nasty weather.  I wasn't so lucky with a couple of flushes, as they were whacked last week with wind and rain that tore the tips off a few leaves of my E ituriensis.  It's still not hardened off with more weather due by Christmas.  Sometimes you get lucky though.  Best of luck to your flushes this holiday season!

[Tracy]

On 8/17/2021 at 9:09 PM, Tracy said:

Ceratozamia robusta popping out a couple of leaf flush because it is so focused on pushing out another male cone.  Some pretty substantial length to the leaves as you can see it pushing up over the height of the block wall.  Great color on the flushes of this species of Ceratozamia.

It turns out that my id on the cone as male was inaccurate.  It was leaning over with the top portion about to fall off, so I removed it last night.  My thought had been that the cone's aspect ratio of height to girth was still very high (i.e. narrow cone), so it must be male.  Needless to say I was a bit surprised when I saw all the seeds inside after removing it.  This is a very tropical looking cycad with these long glossy leaflets. 

[Merlyn]

Here is likely my favorite flush of all time...a NatxWood x NatxWood that was completely torched at 24-26F for 4 hours *with* frost.  There's one lone frond coming out, it popped out a couple of days ago, about 2 weeks after the freeze.  Hopefully this one leaf will let it recover for a bigger flush later in the spring!

[Merlyn]

And another freeze-recovery flush for an unidentified Cycas.  This one was neglected for ~15 years at a local nursery and I planted it in the front yard last summer.  I was hoping it would hold off and not flush in the fall...but here's a nice 10+ frond flush starting!

[Tracy]

On 2/21/2022 at 12:05 PM, Merlyn said:

Here is likely my favorite flush of all time...a NatxWood x NatxWood that was completely torched at 24-26F for 4 hours *with* frost.  There's one lone frond coming out, it popped out a couple of days ago, about 2 weeks after the freeze.  Hopefully this one leaf will let it recover for a bigger flush later in the spring!

At that size, I would expect you will get a second larger flush as summer arrives.  It seems that most Cycads flush more frequently but smaller flushes when small.  The 1 frond push is likely just a stress flush, but a good sign that it will recover.  The color of the fried leaves is reminiscent of a colorful flush on my E sclavoi.

[Tracy]

I decided to remove a couple of male cones earlier today.  Trying to beat the next flush, so that I don't damage the flush when removing the old cones.  I dropped the pair in a 5 gallon bucket on the way to the trash, but it does show the size of this Encephalaratos arenarius cross cones.  They shed a little of the old pollen as I removed them as you can see.  Papa plant is behind the bucket.  The whole enchilada in the last shot.

[Tracy]

Cycas tropophylla x micholitzii cone started to drop seeds, so I removed the bases of the megasporophylls to help it along.  The progression from summer (mid-July) when it was ready to pollinate to collecting the seed (March).  Will have to see if any appear to be viable, as I used pollen from a C debaoensis this attempt as I recall.  Past attempts to pollinate this cycad have failed.

[Tracy]

Ceratozamia mexicana flushing while also pushing a cone.  I don't recall this plant having coned previously, so it will be a reveal party in a few more weeks, minus any fireworks though.  From what I can see, it looks a bit like my Ceratozamia robusta cone when it was similar size that turned out to be female.

[Tracy]

Pups are poppin' out flushes.  Cycas thouarsii x cupida female plant.  Spring is here.

[Coasta]

@Tracy that plant looks happy!

[edbrown_III]

Cycas megacarpa -- I think 

[JLM]

My sagos are flushing for the first time in a little over a year. Maybe it was the fertilizer.

[Tracy]

On 4/24/2022 at 1:54 PM, JLM said:

My sagos are flushing for the first time in a little over a year. Maybe it was the fertilizer.

Longer days, heat and some stored up energy since that last flush.  A little fertilizer doesn't hurt from time to time, just make sure you are using a slow release fertilizer.  My fertilizing regime for cycads is timed with fertilizing my palms, which is usually 3 times per year.  You should share a picture of your favorite flush.

[JLM]

3 hours ago, Tracy said:

Longer days, heat and some stored up energy since that last flush.  A little fertilizer doesn't hurt from time to time, just make sure you are using a slow release fertilizer.  My fertilizing regime for cycads is timed with fertilizing my palms, which is usually 3 times per year.  You should share a picture of your favorite flush.

Hard to say which is my favorite, they both are about the same right now in terms of looks. They seem to be about 1/4 of the way through the flush at the moment, its still emerging. I will definitely post pics of both whenever they get further along since they're planted a couple feet apart from each other.

[edbrown_III]

Cycas  megacarpa flushing in Jacksonville FL 

[Tracy]

Encephalartos horridus cone has started to come apart exposing this year's crop of seeds.

[Gallop]

C debaoensis (multifrondis) X Swansong

[Tracy]

One of three Encephalartos laurentiaunus female cones I just lopped off a plant.  These didn't get pollinated last winter and I didn't want to wait for them to fall apart and make a mess.  They were close to falling apart as you can see the orange seeds inside the cone about to burst out.  Interesting how small these cones were compared to the prior year, probably about 3-4 inches shorter.  The smaller cones also contributed to my decision not to bother with adding any pollen this time around.

[Tracy]

Mother and daughter shot of Cycas thouarsii.  Well maybe better described as mother and pup plant, as it's not a seedling but a pup that is flushing while the mother is pushing out all those megasporophylls.  Daughter plant still holding some megasporophylls at the base of the current flush.  This started out in my garden as a small 3"x9" band once upon a time.

[Tracy]

Encephalartos laurentianus after I removed 3 female cones that I didn't pollinate from last autumn.  Finally I'm getting a late spring into summer flush.  The tips of the leaves are much less likely to get beat up unlike the late autumn and winter flushes, partially due to speedier opening of the leaves in warmer conditions and the absence of cold windy wet storms.  I cut off a few of the remaining leaves from the oldest flush (2 flushes back), which were about 14-15 feet long.  The most recent prior flush was an autumn/winter flush so everything above my wall was damaged so only about 12' long leaves.  It will be interesting to see what this flush does in height.  From what I can see thus far, I count 26 new leaves.

[Tracy]

She's all stripped down.  Encephalartos horridus female cone after all the seeds have been removed.  Just a slim reminder of what she once was.

[Tracy]

Three flushes, 2 on pups, while the main caudex is just beginning a flush and has pushed last seasons cones to the side.  Encephalartos horridus x woodii.

[Manalto]

This is my favorite thread. The photos are beautiful, inspiring, sometimes dramatic - and a little jealousy-inducing.

My contribution is anything but dramatic but seeing this leaf (On cycads, do we call them fronds?) emerge on my struggling and excruciatingly-slow C. debaoensis was a bit of a thrill for me.

[Tracy]

2 hours ago, Manalto said:

This is my favorite thread. The photos are beautiful, inspiring, sometimes dramatic - and a little jealousy-inducing.

My contribution is anything but dramatic but seeing this leaf (On cycads, do we call them fronds?) emerge on my struggling and excruciatingly-slow C. debaoensis was a bit of a thrill for me.

This species provides a great reward as it unfurls the new leaf and leaflets.  It is the cycad world's equivalent to a Caryota.

[Sr. Califas]

 From about June 5th to today.  

[Jubaea_James760]

My biggest Panzhihuaensis finishing its flush, leaves still soft.

 

 

[Tracy]

7 hours ago, Jubaea_James760 said:

Panzhihuaensis finishing its flush, leaves still soft.

So does this species typically drop the previous flush for you before the new one hardens off?  I ask, because I have been known to prematurely trim off some of the older flushes if they are beat up, or if some of the leaves are getting in the way of other plants or pups that are flushing.  Looks good, I like the bowl shape of the crown created by the bend of the rachis/petiole on this species.  Someone in the neighborhood has a male that I walk by often and admire.  I remember it is a male because it still has the cone as recently as this morning.

[Jubaea_James760]

@Tracy

I bought it last year. After I transplanted its leaves started to dry up & looked horrible. I chopped them all off in fall. This is its first flush since I got it & I couldn't be more please with it! The photo does a poor job of capturing its size but it's a chunky fellow & has about a 18" tall caudex. It was tough planting by myself & I severely disrupted the roots, so I was expecting a ton of transplant shock & maybe 1 or 2 small flushes to begin with. 

I'm debating trimming my Cycas Revoulta up.. its almost done with its new flush & the old leaves don't look to bad,  just crammed & off size a bit. 

[amh]

On 6/28/2022 at 12:04 PM, Jubaea_James760 said:

My biggest Panzhihuaensis finishing its flush, leaves still soft.

 

 

Do you know if this is a male or female yet?

[Tracy]

5 minutes ago, amh said:

Do you know if this is a male or female yet?

I can't tell from the photo, but I would expect that if James inspects the caudex he will find either signs of where cones attached if male or megasporophylls if female.  I know I can still identify them on my Cycas that have reached maturity in the past.

[amh]

On 6/18/2022 at 7:14 AM, Manalto said:

This is my favorite thread. The photos are beautiful, inspiring, sometimes dramatic - and a little jealousy-inducing.

My contribution is anything but dramatic but seeing this leaf (On cycads, do we call them fronds?) emerge on my struggling and excruciatingly-slow C. debaoensis was a bit of a thrill for me.

The Cycas debaoensis are so cool when new growth emerges, unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this years first flush, but here is mine with its newly opened leaves, just starting to harden off. Behind is a C. revoluta X debaoensis hybrid and a Zamia standleyi loosing its bronze.

[Jubaea_James760]

@amh, I don't unfortunately.  When I do find out the plan was to get the other gender & make some seeds! 

@Tracy, there was signs of coning when I got it but I threw them away... I looked up cones on the internet & it could resemble pieces of the female cone but I'm uncertain. 

[Manalto]

Spotted this at one of the better independent nurseries here in Mobile. No ID.

[Tracy]

16 hours ago, Jubaea_James760 said:

@amh, I don't unfortunately.  When I do find out the plan was to get the other gender & make some seeds! 

@Tracy, there was signs of coning when I got it but I threw them away... I looked up cones on the internet & it could resemble pieces of the female cone but I'm uncertain. 

 

11 hours ago, Manalto said:

Spotted this at one of the better independent nurseries here in Mobile. No ID.

Manalto's post shows some old female Cycas seeds still hanging onto their not fully formed leaves.  Cycas unlike the other genra of Cycads don't have true female cones, only the males have real cones.  So with Cycas, you can look for the telltale signs of these old megasphorphylls or their bases sometimes and see enough to id it as a female.  With male plants you are looking for the stump or remnants of a peduncle, the stem connecting the cone to the caudex.  Sometimes these are easier to pick out than others.

In the photo below, you can see the seeds attached to what appear to be tiny undeveloped and deformed leaves.  It is the bases of these that remain. and can sometimes be identified as a ring between where sequential flushes have occurred.

[Tracy]

Unscrewing of the male Lepidozamia peroffskyana cone begins. The cone opens in a helix pattern beginning at the bottom of the cone and working its way up, continually exposing more pollen.

[Firepalm]

After 3 years of cones, this encephalartos whitelockii x sclavoi is finally pushing a nice flush of new leaves.  

[Tracy]

17 hours ago, Firepalm said:

After 3 years of cones, this encephalartos whitelockii x sclavoi is finally pushing a nice flush of new leaves.  

At least the old flush still looks good and healthy. Looks like this one is a male.  I have a female and the other is yet to reveal its sex.  Pretty fast growing hybrid.