Cycas rev01 about to blow

[Dave Brown]

Cycas rev01 is now around 25 years old and has settled into a routine of flushing every second year. It last flushed in July 2011, and the centre of the caudex is starting to show the tell tale mounding and slight hole in the middle.

I think the next warm, humid spell may set it off.

[Andy P]

Do you protect this in the Winter Dave? and if so how? I`m a bit torn between keeping mine in it`s pot in the Conservatory or planting it outside. Since mine flushed last year, it`s really started to get too big to keep indoors but i`d hate to loose it as it`s such a fantastic plant.

[Dave Brown]

Andy, these are one of the few plants that really don't mind being heavily wrapped all winter. Look for Simba's topic on how he wrapped his, and survived -14.7C. Mine had several layers of fleece and a fleece bag over in 2010. It doesn't get protected until forecast to drop to-5C. It was unprotected when we had -7.2C last December as was only forecast -3C, and is completely unscathed as the pic shows.

[cordyman]

donated mine to my Mum, she left it out with a bit of spagnum moss in the crown and a fleece bag. There are some yellowed outer leaves, but come through ok, no sign of flush yet though

Dave that camera is a bit too good at the close up shots

[Andy P]

Well i think i`ll definitely have to plant mine outside then as it`s certainly started to take up too much room in my Conservatory.
I was quite amazed last week when i spotted a Cycad planted out by the local council. First time i`ve ever seen a Cycad in this country that`s been planted out in a Town. I`ll have to take a pic and post it. The Cycad in question though doesn`t look like a Revoluta to me but a Dioon Spinulosum which i`ve been led to believe are a fair bit less hardy than a Revoluta.
You can generally rely on Councils to get things wrong and waste our money though i suppose.

[Kristen]

look like a ... Dioon Spinulosum .
You can generally rely on Councils to get things wrong and waste our money though i suppose.

Maybe they are buying them cheap on German eBay from the guy in Spain? That's where mine came from

[The Codfather]

I have had mine for 4 years and its never flushed...... I may put it in my greenhouse.

[karl66]

Dave, I have lot's of superb palm's i'm pleased with but I have to say I crave for a revoluta planted out which looks like your's!!, i'm on my second one & they just don't seem to get going here , my first large one was overwintered indoor's & I do believe it was killed with kindness (water). The second small one I have just sit's doing nothing on the patio despite being submerged in water but for few day's etc, if I ever get chance to purchase a decent size one again at the right money I may have another go as I believe i'm a bit more clued up on them now . karl.

[ourarka]

That is a cracking specimen - I have always been tempted to plant up a big oak barrel on my patio with one. Do you think that would give a similar level of hardiness? I lost a Phoenix canariensis like that - would you say Cycad revoluta is a bit tougher?

[Dave Brown]

This was Cycas rev02 shortly after purchase in 1992. The caudex was about the size of a Naval Orange.

There are a few questions here.

Watering as a house plant?
It will require very little water as there will be insufficient light for much photosynthesis, so keep on the dry side. Many retailers sell this as a "grow in the dark" plant, which is not quite true. They can survive for lengthy periods with very low light unlike most plants, but if you were to get a flush under those conditions it would grow tall and spindly.

How to make it flush ?
This is the 64,000 dollar question, and there have been hundreds of answers, but I think we may need to look at it from the other side, and say what stops a Cycas from flushing. Root damage, too dry, or too cool seem to be the main ones, or a combination of them, although loss of fronds not so.

I know what stopped Cycas rev01 from flushing for 4 years after planting out..... I read a Texas Cycas Farm article saying don't water, so I didn't, and it was baked dry all and every summer. In Texas though they have hefty thunderstorm belts giving deluges of water from time to time, where as I don't. The natural trigger point seems to be when the SE Asia Monsoon arrives in June after hot dry weather, so is replaced by hot, humid, wet weather. It appears this change is the trigger to explode into growth.

Mimicking those conditions is not easy in UK, but we seem to need a week of warm dry summer weather followed by warm, wet, humid weather. Our normal scenario is warm dry, followed by thunderstorms and a 10C drop in temp. For potted Cycas maybe the remedy for a non-flusher is to put in somewhere hot and dry for a week, then plunge into the bucket of water in a hot place with high humidity.

What ever is suggested there there will be some that buck the trend, and flush after different conditions, or subbornly refuse. I can't answer why that is, but if yours is flushing away happily just continue what you are doing.

Maximum growth rate seem to be 3 flushes a year, but this is in places with almost continuous hot weather alternating between hot/dry, and hot/wet.

[kata]

I have had mine for 4 years and its never flushed

Stick it in a bowl of water coddy, change it week by week till it flushes. Leave it till late summer to do that.

[bordersboy]

I have a poor record when it comes to keeping these revolutas.Mine have either just survived or died,and never thrived.

But the grower in Holland I was at showed me some monsters and they were growing in the greenhouse on tables and slightly shaded.It was hot in there and they were many flushing at the time.
So it looks like good light,not direct,heat and humidity helps to force a flush.I didnt ask about feeding so thats a big ?

[Dave Brown]

They grow really well in full sun in the Canaries and it gets to 4 degrees from overhead.

[Matcycas7]

Dave, you have 25 years of experience in growing your tiny cycas into a big one in that snowy weather. It is not your fault when it flushs every 2nd year, blame it on the snow. When the hot water thrown in the mid air turns itself into snow then we can imagine what the snow can do to your Cycas roots in the ground. The only way to make it flush every year is to place it indoors in a trolly container at snow time like these men carrying it like a trojan horse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oPIrN3Hfxg

Dave, over the years did you ever had a less number of flushed fronds than previous year as it had 37 fronds in 2012 but now in 2013 it flushed only 25 but pretty wide and 38 inchs long ? It had 2 heavy rains during the flush period of 14 days and all the 14 days were between 40*c and 45*c and even with packed clouds we used to sweat. My Cycas gets only 2 hours of sunshine if there are no clouds, this means it got only some minutes of sunlight with a pause of steady or running clouds.

It looked ugly when I purchased but later we turned it into a masterpiece with the power of perlite and cafe.

[jcec1]

Matcycas7, that is the best looking cycad I've seen