How many years to reach coning age?

[Bags]

Does anyone know aprox how many years it takes for the following Encephalartos to cone from a seedling?

Horridus

lehmanii

latifrons

inopinus

middleburgensis

hirsutus

princeps

arenarius

cupidus

or any others.

For example I have heard latifrons can take 25-30 years and ferox can cone in as little as 7 years.

What say you cycad experts

[aussiearoids]

It would depend on where you are growing them .

And also if potted out or planted .

I have got cones in only a few years from some Zamia seedlings.

Seen a E whitelockii cone in 5 years planted out in wet tropics.

[Bags]

I know there are many variables in this. So lets say southern CA in the ground with regular water and fertilizer or just your own personal experience.

That's good info on the Whitelockii. I know it will probably take at least double the time here but mine is growing fast and I expect this will be my first cycad to cone.

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

Usually females take a lot more time to cone then males.

[Palmzilla]

Most blues in about 10 yrs in the Vista area where it gets hot. I'd say 15 yrs for laty. Cycads grow much faster than people think. Princeps on the other hand usually need to trunk up a little to cone, so over 10 for this blue.

[Bags]

Wow 10 years is much faster than I was thinking although I have found that some of them are growing very fast for me. My trispinosus flushed five times last year(is that normal?) and that was in a pot on the coast during a cool summer. several others like True Blue Arenarius, Horridus, Whitelockii flushed two or three times also. My Latifrons is five years old and only 1 1/2'' so I am not sure it will cone within 15 years, but we'll see. Thanks, Aaron

[Bags]

Correction my trispinosus only flushed four times not five. What a dud!

[yachtingone]

Correction my trispinosus only flushed four times not five. What a dud!

Aaron you should get rid of duds! It probably needs Corona, Ca heat to get 5 flushes!

[BS Man about Palms]

Aaron-

I suspect those cycads were in your little hot house not outside? If not, whats your secret?

[tropicalb]

Aaron-

I suspect those cycads were in your little hot house not outside? If not, whats your secret?

all the blues flush constantly in a greenhouse environment.

[Bags]

Correction my trispinosus only flushed four times not five. What a dud!

Aaron you should get rid of duds! It probably needs Corona, Ca heat to get 5 flushes!

Yeah, yet another terrible plant I got from you Randy

[Bags]

Aaron-

I suspect those cycads were in your little hot house not outside? If not, whats your secret?

I got rid of the hot house a while ago. I don't have any secrets, but I have followed some of the advice of the experts around here. I'll share what I am doing and maybe some others can add some of there growing techniques.

The Whitelockii and Horridus are in the ground in full sun and get regular water in the summer. On the advice of some experienced growers I have buried the caudexes even though both plants were over 2'' when I planted them over two years ago. The biggest difference though is fertilizer. When I started using Palm Plus both cycads went from one to two flushes a year.

The Trispinosus and True blue arenarius were both in clay pots with their caudexes buried. I have heard they do much better in clay or wood pots as apposed to plastic pots, because the roots stay cooler. My potting soil for all of my plants right now is a 50/50 blend of coco coir peat and pearlite. I have no idea if this is supposed to be a good blend for cycads or not, but they are thriving in it. It is very light and does not get as water logged as peat. My palms are doing much better in it as well. I also fertilize the potted plants with palm plus and water with a weak kelp solution.

I also have a lehmanii that flushed once and a lehmanii X horridus that did not flush at all.

[Shad]

bump

[Tracy]

On 3/2/2011 at 10:18 AM, Bags said:

 

I got rid of the hot house a while ago. I don't have any secrets, but I have followed some of the advice of the experts around here. I'll share what I am doing and maybe some others can add some of there growing techniques.

 

The Whitelockii and Horridus are in the ground in full sun and get regular water in the summer. On the advice of some experienced growers I have buried the caudexes even though both plants were over 2'' when I planted them over two years ago. The biggest difference though is fertilizer. When I started using Palm Plus both cycads went from one to two flushes a year.

 

The Trispinosus and True blue arenarius were both in clay pots with their caudexes buried. I have heard they do much better in clay or wood pots as apposed to plastic pots, because the roots stay cooler. My potting soil for all of my plants right now is a 50/50 blend of coco coir peat and pearlite. I have no idea if this is supposed to be a good blend for cycads or not, but they are thriving in it. It is very light and does not get as water logged as peat. My palms are doing much better in it as well. I also fertilize the potted plants with palm plus and water with a weak kelp solution.

 

I also have a lehmanii that flushed once and a lehmanii X horridus that did not flush at all.

Aaron, those Encephalartos must be getting pretty decent size by now.  I imagine that with some if not most you are at coning age now (latifrons excepted).  I was looking for a thread that would indicate what month E princeps cones typically start to emerge when I found this thread.  When I read about the frequency of some of your flushes, I wonder if they are full adult flushes or if the multiples were more the sequential small flushes one often sees with adolescent and juvenile cycads?  Now that most of mine are late adolescent to early adults, I get one good flush per year and sometimes a flush plus cone on Encephalartos.  This is true of almost all whether they are hybrids or species.  Pups are the exception on the larger plants as they seem to revert back to more than one flush with smaller flushes of maybe 1 leaf, then 2 or 3 leaves at a time, but sequential through the growing season.  You probably get a little warmer summertime day highs than I do up on the ridge where you are but I would be surprised if it made that much of a difference.  I haven't seen you post in ages, so hope you see this and respond!

[Gas man]

I'd also like know what size people have seen males and females  cone for the first time 

[Tracy]

46 minutes ago, Gas man said:

I'd also like know what size people have seen males and females  cone for the first time 

The thread was focused on Encephalartos, so I will limit comments to some of my experience with this genus.  It is species specific but here are some photos of different male plants when the year they first coned.  Encephalartos natalensis x horridus, Encephalartos longifolius, Encephalartos sclavoi, Encephalartos turneri, Encephalartos arenarius x woodii (last 2 photos)

[Tracy]

Female Encephalartos horridus in first two photos at initial coning size.  Subterranean caudex makes this one deceptive.  Next three are Encephalartos trispinosis male plant, that seems much smaller and definitely younger when coning.  It coned in 2019 (photos 3 & 4) with a photo from 2012 shortly after moving up into a citrus pot from band size.  It was still holding the original leaflets from when it was in a 3x9 band in that photo so in about 9 years from being  a 2 leaf seedling it coned, definitely the fastest of my Encephalartos thus far and noticeably smaller when achieving the milestone.

[Tracy]

16 hours ago, Gas man said:

I'd also like know what size people have seen males and females  cone for the first time 

Next is a first time cone happening right now, with an Encephalartos horridus x woodii (first 3 photos) with size Large Rainbow sandals for perspective.  Probably due to the woodii in it's lineage, it's clearly much larger than some of the others with the exception of the Encephalartos arenarius woodii when achieving coning stature.  I threw in the next two of Encephalartos princeps which still hasn't coned because it is saving up for either a monster flush or a cone because it still hasn't pushed anything thus far in 2020 and would normally start flushing in April or May in a cool year.  I guess the E princeps is an example of still too small thus far.  Last photo is back to the E horridus x woodii when I transplanted it from my Carlsbad garden in late 2015, to provide a perspective on it's growth in a little under 5 years.