Zamia nesophila & Ceratozamia sp in the ground in SW FL?

[PalmatierMeg]

I am in the process of repotting the Zamias I salvaged from Hurricane Ian, including a large Z. nemophila. I also have a Ceratozamia sp - can't read tag but it indicates "Brown Form" if that's any help. Both these plants are fairly large growing so I am considering whether to plant them rather than repot. I understand both genera prefer some shade rather than full sun but shade is a hard commodity to find right now. So far, my cycads are doing well in full Nov. aside from some initial sunburn in Oct. Our soil in Cape Coral is alkaline shell rock over sand but the area I will plant them has been amended with mulch over time.

Can someone tell me whether planting this Zamia and Ceratozamia is a halfway decent idea? Eventually they will get a lot of shade once what's left of the royal poinciana leafs out and the Sabals palmetto 'Mocksville' and maurtiiformis put on some height now they are exposed to full sun.

[Tracy]

On 11/15/2022 at 1:04 PM, PalmatierMeg said:

I am in the process of repotting the Zamias I salvaged from Hurricane Ian, including a large Z. nemophila. I also have a Ceratozamia sp - can't read tag but it indicates "Brown Form" if that's any help. Both these plants are fairly large growing so I am considering whether to plant them rather than repot. I understand both genera prefer some shade rather than full sun but shade is a hard commodity to find right now. So far, my cycads are doing well in full Nov. aside from some initial sunburn in Oct. Our soil in Cape Coral is alkaline shell rock over sand but the area I will plant them has been amended with mulch over time.

Can someone tell me whether planting this Zamia and Ceratozamia is a halfway decent idea? Eventually they will get a lot of shade once what's left of the royal poinciana leafs out and the Sabals palmetto 'Mocksville' and maurtiiformis put on some height now they are exposed to full sun.

Since the species isn't clear on the Ceratozamia,  a picture might help some of your fellow Florida friends.   I am not familiar with the Zamia you mentioned but would love to see a photo of it as well.  Most of the more tropical Zamia species have to be grown in greenhouses here, so our palette of species for outdoor growth is limited from the genus.

Sorry I can't provide answers to your questions but hopefully with the visual, someone else will. 

[PalmatierMeg]

I went ahead and planted those two and the rest of my larger cycads. I placed them in areas where surviving canopy provided a modicum of shade. By next spring I'm hoping regrowth of palms and the few surviving tropical trees will provide protection from summer sun. I repotted smaller cycads and placed them on blocks scattered around the smaller ones. A race against time so to speak. And I reduced the unwieldy size of my container garden.

I will take photos to document the latest reincarnation of our Garden Lot to date. I've culled, planted or repotted our cacti & other succulents, foliage plants, container palms & cycads. Next up: desert roses, Dyckias/Hechtias and Amorphophallus bulbs. Looks like we have about a dozen more large palms that won't survive Ian and need to come down. A lot of stuff headed for the compost pile beside the road and we haven't had even one horticultural pickup yet.

[sgvcns]

From memory Nesophila and Hamanii were split out of Skinneri. All large leaf plicate plants. Shade is a good idea. I have all 3 growing will in a moist shade environ. They seem happy.