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Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 1:51 pm
by miggs
Right im thinking one of my ferns is dead as no sign or fonds or knuckles. now my question is this i have bought a very small one in a pot can this be placed in the top of the dead Dicksonia antarctica

Re: Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:12 pm
by dave2166
likely to be dead, esp if its a small one, but they have given others a late flush of fronds if given lashings of water

yes you could put a small one in the top, but if its smaller than the one which has died, by definition, then i think you will need to overwinter indoors or under cover as the smaller they are the less hardy they are

also the thicker the trunk the more robust they are. tall narrow trunks are more suspectible it seems than one of the same height and thicker

so when buying go for the thicker ones first

Re: Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:27 pm
by glovemeister
I would give it a bit more time yet, mine is 4-5 ft and only threw out 1 frond 3 weeks ago no sign of any more at the time but I have 4 coming through now, everything seems months behind due to the bad winter. My father in laws knuckles have all blackened and died so we have removed them and are hoping for the best. Can a smaller Dicksonia antarctica really be bonded to a dead trunk?? How is this done, i assume the roots bind together in time? How would you secure them?

Re: Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:03 pm
by weve
Some friends' told me their Dicksonia antarctica crown had rotted (they are not really gardeners). Well I went round last Saturday and the inside the top of the crown was flat, smooth, very hard and a dark grey/black colour (just like a sheet of hard solid plastic) which when tapped with ones finger nail, gave a solid high pitched sound, just like tapping plastic (say on a car dashboard!). I didn't expect to see anything like this! (fortunately have no experience with my own dieing...yet).

Is this what they go like after rotting??? I was stumped! (no pun intended :) )

Re: Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:49 pm
by Mick C
Sounds a bit strange weve. The smaller of my two has still not sent out any fronds; one was about to emerge about a month ago but I managed to snap it off whilst doing a 'careful' investigation :twisted:

The original fronds all died but they were soft and mushy, not hard & plasticky. There is still hope for both plants I think, I try to water the crown of mine every day to help it along.

Re: Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:59 pm
by redsquirrel
my 1ft fibrosa went psychodelic orange and manky,considered it was curtains when the gunge started dribbling down the side.cleaned it out and had the similar hard surface in the pit.have a 2ft basket case Dicksonia antarctica done the same without the gunge.thinking of trailing clematis around it or something

Re: Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:15 am
by bobbyd44
iam still waiting for two of mine to come back.. and one has gone rally hard in the centre too.. was thinking this was a bad sign!!!

Re: Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:31 am
by Dave Brown
Sounds like some kind of resin then. Maybe happens when the growing point mushes and sets solid when dried out icon_scratch

Re: Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 6:59 pm
by bobbyd44
maybe but had mine with some protection and at no point did they get mushy so a strange one but still no fronds!!!

Re: Dicksonia Antartica DEAD

Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 7:07 am
by glovemeister
A friends Dicksonia antarctica also has a solid resin skin at the growing point, is it worth removing the hard centre (cant imagine any fronds pushing through it!) and hoping for a recovery or shall i pass on the bad news??