cycad fertilizer

[Tiki Ty]

i got a encephalartos lehmannii and trispinosus today  and i was wondering what the best fertilizer was to get the most flushes per year

[tropicalb]

depends....how big are they tyler?

[DoomsDave]

NOTHING!

[Jeff Searle]

I think most people use the same palm fertilizer that their using on palms. To my knowledge, there is no cycad fertilizer made.

Jeff

[tropicalb]

actually Jeff....your Florida compatriot Tom Broome has a fertilizer for sale that is specifically formulated for cycads....

Myself...I just throw some Apex palm plus in there, but I wanted to make sure that Tiki Ty didn't throw a load of fert on a seedling....

[BS Man about Palms]

Ty, were you at the Quail sale?

[cycadjungle]

Tropicalb is right, I have been producing my cycad fertilizer for sale to others for 6 years now. I get lots of feed back from people who are using it all over the US and several people your way have told me some great things. A few botanical gardens, a theme park, as well as many cycad collectors are using my stuff. 5 people have told me about the same thing who live in the LA area and a bit south, but as an example one person told me he had been growing cycads for 30 years and never got more than 1 flush in a year and the first full year he used my Cycad Special he got 2 to 3 flushes on his blue encephalartos plants.( I think he had about 2 or 3 of each of the blues) Cycads have an eposodic growth pattern and the older they get, the more energy they need to push a larger flush, and then more often. That is why the regular palm fertilizers just don't cut it because they are usually weaker in nitrogen, on purpose. When these cycads are small, the flushes are smaller and the need for as much energy is less. You can use my fertilizer and it doesn't hurt, but smaller plants flush more often each year than larger plants. In the first few years from a seedling, I use the 18-6-8, 360 day Nutricote. It lasts all year so you only have to use it once a year, but as soon as the flushes get about 3 or more leaves on a flush, I start using the Cycad Special. If I had just purchased some medium sizedlehmanniis, I would put down some triple super phosphate (0-46-0) to initiate extra fast root growth and wait about 3 weeks, and then start on the Cycad Special. If these plants are less than 1 1/2 inches in diameter, I'd go with the TSP  and mix in the Nutricote at the same time because that stuff takes about a month or so to really kick in and by that time the TSP is used up.

[Peter]

Tom,

where can we get your fert?

[KatyTX]

Another Cycad Special endorsement.  Plus - you can get a lot of good info off of Tom's website.  He is the foremost expert on many cycad topics:

Cycad Jungle

Matt

[cycadjungle]

I guess that takes care of it, thanks KatyTX. So how is it working in your area? For anyone, you can see the link on my main page for both my fertilizers that I have formulated and other products. I also have just about every cycad cultivation subject covered in my website, so everyone can get good information without having to buy an expensive book.

Just to let everyone know though, when I first started collecting I had colonies of 6 or more plants for about 70 species of cycads. EVERY plant was tagged and I conducted just about every experiment someone could think of for testing different fertilizers, soils, watering, all kinds of things. I documented every leaf flush, every cone emergence, receptive cone timings, pollen shedding, everything that happened to ALL these plants for a full 7 years, which filled 3 entire note pads. I learned what worked and what didn't work instead of believing what was in someone's book. For the fertilizer, it is the first fertilizer I have seen that you can truly see it work. Most times you figure it must be working because the plants didn't turn yellow or something, but with healthy plants that are being taken care of, you can use this fertilizer like a tool that will make your cycads produce leaves on schedule.(given you don't try to force leaves in the middle of winter) It also increases cone production on mature cycads as well, which for me increases my seed production, which is one of the most important things in life to me.

[ghar41]

Ok...testimonial time...

After years of reading about Tom's fertilization techniques..last year I went ahead and followed his advice.

After using the Nutricote on smaller plants....almost every plant threw a MEGA leaf or two or three....

Dioon merolae

[ghar41]

Encephalartos natalensis...

[ghar41]

So I figured, what the heck...let's use it again this year....

Encephalartos altensteinii....

[ghar41]

Ceratozamia sp...

[ghar41]

With the Cycad Special concoction...

This E. arenarius went from a 5 leaf flush in '05 to a 7 leafer in '06.... and it's gettin' busy again (looks like a 7 leafer again....)

[ghar41]

And although this M. moorei flushes continuously...I do believe it had it's best year of growth last year...

[KatyTX]

Tom,

The fert seems to be doing the trick (along with much patience).  My e.lehmanii seedling has flushed 6 times in the past 2 years.  My e.ferox has finally awakened after 18 months dormant in the ground - flushed 5 leaves.

Great stuff.

Matt

[Urban Rainforest]

Tom, Thanks for all the great advice and I'm going to have to try your fertilizer. I have been getting REAL into Cycads again and have planted more recently. I use nutricote on my seedlings and will get up to 3 or 4 flushes a year depending on the species but once they get bigger most only flush once a year   . If I could get the big ones to throw 2 or 3 times a year I would be stoked   . It's amazing to me the amount of research and experimentation you did to formulate your fert.

Thanks again,

Steve

[Tiki Ty]

the trispinosus is a seedling and the lehmannii is a five gallon i just put some nutricote on them and no bill i missed it   but anyways does anyone know of a good source to get cycad seeds expessialy especialy blue encephalartos

[Neofolis]

Not to take anything away from Tom's brew, which I have only ever heard good things about.  I am using a standard palm fertilizer 15-5-15 on my Cycas taitungensis.  I use a fairly weak solution every 7-10 days.  I bought it as a two leaf seedling in August 2005 and it has produced new leaves every 4-6 weeks since then, other than recently when I had a couple of mishaps resulting in a broken pot and several broken fronds.  This is how the same plant looked on April 25th of this year.

The caudex is about 175mm/7" diameter.  Admittedly Cycas taitungensis is generally quite a fast grower.

[ghar41]

(Tiki Ty @ May 28 2007,22:54)

QUOTE

but anyways does anyone know of a good source to get cycad seeds expessialy especialy blue encephalartos

The "Cycad Society" has a great seedbank.  If you would like to be on their mailing list, youll need to join the society.  I have found it to be very worthwhile over the last 12+ years  as they have offered many different species inclucing many of the blue Encephalartos.

http://www.cycad.org/

Glenn

[Kris]

Dear Glenn  

it seems you have the entire cycas collection catalogue at your

garden ? great collection and each is a beauty !  

Dear Neo  

even your cycas looks great.

its time i do something about my collection too !  ???

Love,

Kris  

[NorCalWill]

I realize that this is a pretty old post, but I am currently looking for a good cycad fertilizer, and the information given here is a bit incomplete.

Tom never answered the question about where a person can buy his "special blend", and after further investigating, I learned that he doesn't ship to California.

Nutricote 18-6-8 (360) was reportedly the next best thing, but I can't find that either. Where are people buying this stuff?

[Palm crazy]

I think Nutricote 18-6-8 might be wholesale only, But I’m not sure, I’m to lazy to look it up.

[Palm crazy]

I realize that this is a pretty old post, but I am currently looking for a good cycad fertilizer, and the information given here is a bit incomplete.

Tom never answered the question about where a person can buy his "special blend", and after further investigating, I learned that he doesn't ship to California.

Nutricote 18-6-8 (360) was reportedly the next best thing, but I can't find that either. Where are people buying this stuff?

This question has been asked before so maybe there an answer in this old thread.

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/5146-california-nutricote-source/

[NorCalWill]

Thanks for the lead, much appreciated.

I understand about being too lazy to look it up...I've been Googling it all afternoon and I just got to the point where I just want someone to give me the answer.

[Palm crazy]

Your Welcome Will.

This year I’ve been using Dr. Earth organic 10 palm & tropical with good results.

But I’m going to try Toms HIGH nitrogen suggestion and applying some Vigoro water soluble all purpose plant food 24-8-16 on my Sago cycad and see if it will flush this year. I’m not big on chemicals so a little bit goes a long way.

Edited July 16, 2013 by Palm crazy

[ghar41]

Encephalartos natalensis...

The same cycad as post #12 today, 16 oz beer can for scale. I'm currently using Nutricote 18-6-8 (180 day formula.) I bought the Nutricote (Florikan) online, sorry I cant remember the website. 50 lb bag....expensive but one application lasts through my entire growing season.