cycas evolutia

[Superted]

I have bought a small cycad palm from the local florist. i really love the way it looks. I was tld that it is a house plant but im sure i have seen ones planted outside. can it be planted outside?

[Birmingham Chris]

Hi superted. You can plant it out when it's bigger as long as it's really well drained in the winter as it's the wet not the cold which will do for it (as with so much else). Personally, I wouldn't put it outside in the winter until the stumpy bit is about the size of a large grapefruit. In the summer though it will love you if you give it some fresh air.

[stephenprudence]

Yes it can, I brought my Cycas in the house plant department and its growing well..

Cycas is without doubt an outdoor plant for here

[palmking]

and here!

Mine's finally flushing too -after waiting a couple of years -Needs lots of Nitrogen fertiliser in Spring to raise your chances of flushing.

Many parts of Merseyside, i'd guess are fairly mild in Winter and I reckon you've a good chance if your winter lows don't regularly exceed -5/-6C.

overhead protection from too much precipitation/Radiation frost is a great help in Winter , with free draining soil . Mine doesn't even get protected anymore unless it late flushes and the leaves don't harden properly before the colder weather. Then Fleece is required or the leaves will burn badly.

Make sure you acclimatise it to bright light before permanently planting it, though.

Paul

[Dave Brown]

Ted, I presume the title is a mispell of Cycas revoluta? If so I'll edit it to aid future searches I don't believe that are any other Cycas

My big one is growing in platacine clay and has been outside since 2004. They have very very long roots and whatever you plant it in it will grow out into whatever is surrounding it. I have just dug out an arid bed and one of the roots was 15 feet from the Cycad. I carefully dug the plastacine out and it is now at the bottom in a mixture of ballast and clay with just ballast above it.

The way to get these to flush regularly is feed even when not growing fronds between April and October, but water copiously over summer. The come from a summer monsoon area in Southern Japan, with heavy rain daily from June to August. I baked mine dry for years during summer, thinking that was what was required, and it went 4 years without flushing. My father in law waters and feeds his like bedding plants and he gets a flush per year

This is my webpage on it http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/Cycads/

[Jo A P]

For some reason I thought they didn't like full sun & mine has been in a partially shaded spot! I'll have to slowly get him used to some more sun & eventually plant him.
Free draining soil I suppose?

Do they grow easily from seed?

[fgtbell]

Yes, they are easy from seed (they don't take any looking after) but germination can be quite slow. They are also very slow developers so if you want a plant that looks impressive immediately it might be better to just buy one.

They are the cheapest of any of the cycad seeds. Pop them in a box with some just-damp vermiculite and leave them in a warm place.

You can view growing instructions here: http://www.growing-exotics.org.uk/growi ... ycads.html

Regards,

[stephenprudence]

From what its worth I would say Cycas revoluta love the sun love well drained soil but also love lots of water (like Dave said)

I would say if you live in a frost free area (I assume you live in a fairly frost free area Jo?) you can plant in a moist soil like compost. If you live in the UK it's best planting in sand to promote drainage for the winter.

The biggest threat to ugly Cycad fronds is not frost but unwanted sunlight or strong drying winds

Another plant that isn't widely enough planted in people gardens in the UK.

It's a myth that the Cycas revoluta is unbearably tender too, my small seedling got through last winter outside uprotected. Any deaths or tenderness would only occur where soils are waterlogged whereby the roots would be encased in ice.

The 1-2 foot tall specimen at Ness Gardens are planted in quite wet moist compost in the Dicksonia antarctica/Cyathea section a photo of it below, it has a little wind damage/sun damage but its growing happily

[Dave Brown]

Jo, they grow in full sun in Tenerife, and it gets to just 4 degrees off overhead there, so my theory was if they take full overhead sun, they can take full sun anywhere. They can grow in light shade and survive in deep shade. In the UK the sun will help them get the warmth to grow, you may get that in shade in Italy.

You can get seed, which can be up to the size of a small hen's egg, and I have heard it is easy, but not tried it myself. Francis (fgtbell) is probably your man for this

[Jo A P]

Ok, thanks. I'll have to think about where I can plant it! I've had mine for a couple of years, it's not very big & I thought a few smaller ones nearby would look good, hence the seed.
We do get frost here (Tuscany), not as you do in the UK, but it can go down to -5 or -7 if we're really unlucky. I live on the side of a valley so I get a fair bit of wind that makes it colder. Frost usually disappears by about 10.00am though.

[Superted]

Thank you everyone.

So it will be hardy here for me then?