Hardy Tropicals UK

ourarka wrote:Oh well, fingers crossed then as opinion seems slightly varied. How would any damage from dryness manifest itself?

Dryness could possibly kill the Dicksonia antarctica. Most likely the croziers will decrease in size and you will end up with smaller fronds.

I am,

Watering during the day, keeping them in sunshine and repeat next day etc. Cover overnight. This way the water has dried in anticipation of frost.

That's what I do with my Dicksonia antarctica, I'm going to try my dripper system today.

charliepridham wrote:Not sure it helps, but mine have a permanant dripper ..........

Same here and the best thing i ever did for my tree ferns. The water gets where its needed and not wasted down the outside of the trunk. Also , if you have to wrap your tree ferns for long periods it would be easy to do so in a way that you can water in winter whilst wrapped, if needed

How does it work? Pray tell.

ourarka wrote:How does it work? Pray tell.

You can but the systems from garden centres, it is ultra thin hose pipe that is connected to the outside tap with a preasure reducer, you have drip feed ends hat you cut and attach to the crown of the tree fern then you link another piece on to it to the next plant in the system. It sounds complicated but they are easy to install, local garden centres stock them hose lock systems are good.

The outside tap is next after the hedge, then I can do like you people do.

The hedge is really needing a haircut urgently to allow sunshine in, be done on tuesday.

fern Rob wrote:Dryness could possibly kill the Dicksonia antarctica.

And how would I tell? I can feel several hard knuckles, but is their presence alone sign enough that it is ok? The current fronds have browned off quite a lot.

ourarka wrote:

fern Rob wrote:Dryness could possibly kill the Dicksonia antarctica.

And how would I tell? I can feel several hard knuckles, but is their presence alone sign enough that it is ok? The current fronds have browned off quite a lot.

Croziers normally move to the touch if the Dicksonia antarctica is completely dried out. You still need to make sure it gets plenty of water throughout the growing season to make sure next years fronds will grow big.
Once tree ferns fronds have decreased it is hard to get them to increase again, this could take years, so better to give it plenty of water.

fern Rob wrote:

ourarka wrote:

fern Rob wrote:Dryness could possibly kill the Dicksonia antarctica.

And how would I tell? I can feel several hard knuckles, but is their presence alone sign enough that it is ok? The current fronds have browned off quite a lot.

Croziers normally move to the touch if the Dicksonia antarctica is completely dried out. You still need to make sure it gets plenty of water throughout the growing season to make sure next years fronds will grow big.
Once tree ferns fronds have decreased it is hard to get them to increase again, this could take years, so better to give it plenty of water.

Not the case in my experience. One of my two that survived the winter 2010 spell produced TINY fronds in 2011, I'm talking less than a foot. I potted it up, watered loads and placed it by my pond. Last summer it produced normal sized fronds and LOADS of them.

I unwrapped mine yesterday and there was not as many knuckles as I hoped for....this maybe because its too dry.....anyway....watering systems....I was going to buy a big dripper for each Dicksonia antarctica...but it was going to work our pricey....so, after thinking I made my own individual ones......they are genius.

2 litre pop bottle.....with a nail I put a SMALL hole in the bottle top and another SMALL hole in the bottom (this one is needed to let the water drip out when turned upside down).

Hold your finger over the hole on the bottom....fill...top on....and the fronds hold it in place when inserted......you can also add feeds easily too should you require....

I put id in the Dicksonia antarctica bottle top down and moved on to the next etc....doing it this way you know how much water they are getting...yet once it's been put in you walk away for 15mins and do something else....go back refill, repeat etc.

The Codfather wrote:2 litre pop bottle

I do that with plants that are overwintering in large pots in the conservatory. They need more water now it is Spring, but the pots are so full of soil from cramming the plants in, after lifting them last Autumn, that it is very difficult to water them without the water just running off the soil, so I cut the bottom off a 2L Pop bottle, ram the screw-top end [with the top removed] into the soil as best I can, and then fill the bottle from the now-open, bottom, end. It takes 10 minutes or so for the water to percolate out of the bottle, so doesn't run everywhere - and probably is less inclined to go straight-through either.

I will use the bottle technique next winter.

Bottle technique is great whilst you are on holiday as well.

I wonder if I can keep them at a high winter temprature then I could mix tiny amount of feed in to the bottles every few weeks, that should keep the frond size improving without upsetting the tree ferns.