Ceratozamia hildae

[Darold Petty]

Advice needed

  I have grown these from tiny starts in my cool greenhouse (50-70F), but lately they seem to have stalled, with no new flush for a long time.  Sorry for the too busy background, but they are sparse in foliage.  

Currently they are in pots 6 inches diameter by 7 inches tall.  If I kept them as potted plants I would like to plant the three together in one pot.  What pot dimensions would be appropriate ?  If I ground plant them in the garden how close together can I place them ?  I seldom fertilize, perhaps this is part of the problem?  What about insufficient light in my greenhouse ?    Thanks for your input !

[Scott W]

Good question, wish I knew the answer!!!

I germinated several about a decade ago that I got from Tom Broome.  I'm down to two left, one get morning sun and afternoon shade while the other gets morning shade then midday sun and late afternoon shade.

The first one overall is about five feet tall while the second is about three feet tall; both do not have a lot of friends which though is how I've seen most others as well.  Neither have cones either, and Tom said they do tend to mature early, often within seven years.

The second one I may be digging up and moving next to the first one.  These both get whatever water nature provide but I do fertilize them several times a year.

If it were me if plant them separately...

[Kailua_Krish]

Mine in my 9a garden took a while before they got more dense but once they were rooted in and happy they started getting thicker. Unfortunately I lost about half of them to flooding (they cannot tolerate being submerged).

I think these dont get really dense unless they have the room to really root in and develop the big cycad root system. They can be planted fairly close though and that may help you get seeds one day. I do really like these and wish they (and the other ceratozamia) were easier to find in Hawaii.

[Palmarum]

17 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

...  I have grown these from tiny starts in my cool greenhouse (50-70F), but lately they seem to have stalled, with no new flush for a long time. ... If I kept them as potted plants I would like to plant the three together in one pot.  What pot dimensions would be appropriate ?  If I ground plant them in the garden how close together can I place them ?  I seldom fertilize, perhaps this is part of the problem?  What about insufficient light in my greenhouse ?    Thanks for your input !

C. hildae can be fun to grow here in S. Florida. They get that cool 'bamboo' look. They are getting harder to find though over the last couple years.

Are the plants pot bound, growing any roots out the bottom? Is the soil dense, mucky, old? If so, they may be due to be potted up with a well-draining soil into 3-gallon pots along with a time-release fertilizer. Like with most Ceratozamia species, they love good drainage. Planting them all really close together, whether in the same pot or the ground, might be a bit much as they can get real bushy on their own. Of the few plants I've grown and the specimens I have seen, they do not seem to be picky about light. Seedlings and small plants should be in shade, but I have seen larger specimens in many bright locales. Full, blazing, all day sun (in S. Florida) should be avoided. Not that it will be fatal or damaging, but some protection will lead to a better looking plant.

Ryan

[Darold Petty]

Thanks very much, Ryan 

[Silas_Sancona]

20 hours ago, Palmarum said:

C. hildae can be fun to grow here in S. Florida. They get that cool 'bamboo' look. They are getting harder to find though over the last couple years.

Are the plants pot bound, growing any roots out the bottom? Is the soil dense, mucky, old? If so, they may be due to be potted up with a well-draining soil into 3-gallon pots along with a time-release fertilizer. Like with most Ceratozamia species, they love good drainage. Planting them all really close together, whether in the same pot or the ground, might be a bit much as they can get real bushy on their own. Of the few plants I've grown and the specimens I have seen, they do not seem to be picky about light. Seedlings and small plants should be in shade, but I have seen larger specimens in many bright locales. Full, blazing, all day sun (in S. Florida) should be avoided. Not that it will be fatal or damaging, but some protection will lead to a better looking plant.

Ryan

Agree w/ Ryan, some shade goes a long way to keeping these looking top notch.. Forget sun here obviously.  At Kopsick, theirs always had a little burn here and there where it was situated ( in ..maybe half days.. sun. Could just as easily be something else that would burn them too.. ) Mine did fine under the Mesquite at the old house in a 3gal for years until something fell on it last year, and damaged the Caudex.  Was never super full, but always looked nice.. 

[Merlyn]

Initially I didn't like Hildae, but I've come to appreciate the oddity a bit more...so I bought a decent sized pot at the last CFPACS meeting.  I planted it in a spot with some summer sun, but it'll be in sort of patchy sun instead of full blazing sun.  They did great during the 24.4F cold front, so that's awesome to me!  

My recollection from Tom Broome's collection was that most were either in shade cloth in one of his many greenhouses, or in an open field area with high oak canopy.  I don't think the canopy was complete, but it did provide a pretty good amount of shade.

[Tracy]

On 2/12/2022 at 8:25 AM, Silas_Sancona said:

Agree w/ Ryan, some shade goes a long way to keeping these looking top notch..

Darold mine is in pretty heavy shade after replanting right now and probably would appreciate moving back into a bit more sun because our sun is far less intense than either Florida or AZ.  I did give mine late afternoon shade when it was in its sunniest exposure though.  I have always kept mine in a pot.  I had some concern about the soil several years ago, so potted it into a 100% pumice mix and it did fine; as Ryan pointed out, they like good drainage.  When I replanted it this last time, I used a mix of both commercial cactus mix with about 25% pumice added.  It has opted to cone the last 2 go rounds rather than push a new flush, so not worth a photo right now.  I was a bit surprised to see it push a little pup off to the side, which I haven't seen with any of my other Ceratozamia.  The rest remain solitary. 

Knowing the difference between my coastal climate and yours, you can get by with a significant amount of sun, because of the reduction in intensity and increased days of marine layer you have up there.  You probably only see full sun in a normal year consistently only at the tail end of summer, with most of spring and early summer on the longest most intense light days, filtered through the marine layer.  I would be inclined to keep 2 in pots, and experiment with 1 in the ground before going all out.  I would go up to a 7 gallon size for the ones you don't put in the ground, just make sure it's a normal 7 and not a squat one, as cycads like deep roots.  Let us now what you decide to do and share the results.