Cycad roots?????????

[MattyB]

Hi everyone. I'm working on a new area of the garden that sits on top of my septic leach area. I'm gonna want to plant relatively shallow rooted plants over most of this area so as not to clog my perforated pipes below. That means no palms, no trees, no shrubs. I'll mostly have shallow rooted groundcover in some areas, some smaller succulents, perennials, etc. I'm wondering about the root structures of cycads. I only have a couple of cycads but it would be nice to put a specimine type plant, like a cycad, in some areas just to break up the plantings. So, how agressively rooted are cycads? What are the roots like, hair roots or large tubers? Do they go deep or are they shallow? Do you think they'd pose a threat to clogging perforated ABS leach lines burried 2 feet below? I have E. transvenosus, E. longifolius, D. califanoi. Is there gonna be a big difference between species? George and Bruce and Phil and Randy and all you guys who have experience digging these up, I'd really love to hear from you.

Also, I'd love to plant some Agaves here, that I got from David at Tejastropicals, but I'm afraid they might be too agressively rooted. David, any clues on these roots? Maybe an A. victorea reginae would be less of a problem?

Thanks for the help.

[Stevetoad]

Does Paul know about this?!! the few that ive dug up didnt have a whole lot of roots and they were fat fleshy roots, about as thick as a pen. im sure that doesnt help but ive only dug up 3...

[Stevetoad]

this is from the good people at jungle music QUOTE:

Cycad Roots

Various types of roots extend from the bottom of the caudex into the ground or more superficially along the surface of the ground. The main or large primary root is called a tap root; secondary roots extend from the primary root. There is another type of root structure as well. These are called coralloid (actually look like coral) roots, which are apparent near the surface of the ground. These roots have a specialized function which is absorbing nutrients (mainly nitrogen). It is known that the major root on cycads can be contractile, thus allowing the roots to pull the plant into the ground. It is not uncommon for one digging a plant to find that there is a significant amount of stem below the ground that was not appreciated on initial viewing. The important thing about cycad roots is that, when the plant is doing poorly, the problem is often in the roots. When handling bare root cycads, always be careful not to bruise or damage the roots. Also, be careful to avoid over-watering, as root rot can set it and not be apparent in the leaves and trunk. Only when it is too late does the root rot become evident.

[Stevetoad]

heres a pic from jungle music too...

[MattyB]

that's disgusting

[Stevetoad]

it kinda looks like freakypalmguys avatar

[Cycadcenter]

Matty,

Cycad roots vary between the Genus,

Encephalartos roots are the ones similar to the drawing above and well grown are thick and tuberous, usually 4-6 of them. on field grown plants they can be up to two feet long.

Cycas have roots which forn sort of a rootball effect coming out of the bottom of the caudex, they are mainly up to an inch in diameter and a foot long and are constantly regenerating themselves.

Macroxamias have a long tap root system usually with two or three roots which we have seen up to four feet long.

Dioons have a root system similar to Emcephalartos.

Regards

Bruce

[MattyB]

Great info Bruce, thanks!

[Palmzilla]

I'd be surprised if anything could grow over your septic tank!!! Maybe try to air plants hahaha!!!!

[MattyB]

Braden, it's not over the tank, it's over the leach field, ie perforated ABS set in trenches and backfilled w/ gravel. The ABS is about 2' down and I don't want the roots to grow into the tubes and clog them. I was hoping you'd reply since you have lots of experience with digging cycads. Do you think that a cycad will go down and empact a buried perforated ABS drainage pipe? What about Agaves? Aren't their roots pretty aggressive?

[Palmzilla]

Stay with blue cycads, they are smaller and don't root as deep. Most all cycad roots are very fragile and weak, they are fleshy and soft like a potato. I would never worry about cycad roots, their root system doesn't come close to palms. Plant a ton of them! They will go nuts in your area!

[MattyB]

Cool! Thanks. I guess I'll keep the E. transvenosus away from the lines then, since it's gonna get pretty huge.

[yachtingone]

Matty,

I wouldn't worry about roots in your leach line. I would think that MOST plants roots will get air pruned once they get into your gravel just like they do with properly installed garden stone walls.

My leach line goes down 15' deep so I am NOT worried about roots ruinning it. You might have a leach field of which I believe your still good to go.

I have a Brahea edulis right next to my leach line that I NEVER have to water!

Randy

[virtualpalm]

I agree with Randy in that I wouldn't worry about any species of cycad having roots that would interfere with a drain field.

Jody

[Tejastropicals]

Matt, I agree with the comments already made and Agave have relatively small root systems.

[MattyB]

OK, cool! I always just assumed that Agaves had very extensive root systems because they are so drought tolerant. But I guess things like Moringa, Adenium, and other drought tolerant plants don't really have that much in the way of roots, they're just well adapted to long periods of dryness. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

[rprimbs]

I use a post hole digger to plant my Encephalartos. They seem to put down little more than a big tap root and some fine roots on the surface. They definitely don't put out the dense sort of roots -- that go in all directions -- that some palm trees do.