King in the sun - TRex (Tetrapanax papyrifer)

[Nick]

Great photo's Dave, how do you do it, all this good luck you always seem to be getting of late, can't wait for mine to get that size he's wonderful...

[Libby]

Great pics Dave, hopefully mine will look like that soon

[GARYnNAT]

Ours is moving well despite being dug up and plonked in its dustbin

garden april 09 018.jpg

garden april 09 019.jpg

Gary

[Robin Cassell]

Gary..the yucca in youre pics..did you get that with top cut off and the new growth on it ,or,has that grown since loosing growth ?..Asking because mine has completely lost all heads..about12 in all...and was wondering will it sprout from high up trunk or ground level or not at all?

[Dave Brown]

That's good news Gary, I know we had some debate as to the best time to dig out, before the leaves got frosted, or after, and that when moved they could die back, obviously yours has not, so when did you do it in the end.

[GARYnNAT]

Robin the yucca came as a freebee from John Prescott, the plant was over 4mts tall and weighed a ton, the only way to move it was to cut the heads off. the heads lost all there foliage to start with but once potted up they have resprouted and have full heads again now (will take and post a pic later) the main trunk was potted up and has resprouted as you can see

Dave it was dug up in November after the frost got the leaves, i tried to get as big a rootball as i could, hence the dustbin . still left lots of root behind though (still no pups) the plant is now growing well

Gary

[bodster]

hows the house sale going gary?

[Dave Brown]

I was wondering how wind tolerant these are and now I know...... Not very The incessant howling NE gales of the last 2 days have wrecked it. I guess it will be like M.basjoo, looks good one weekend a year. The thing is about 2 months growth have been wrecked in one gale, which does not bode well for it ever looking good for a whole season here. I suppose I could cut it down to force lots of buds lower down, and have found two pups already. So a ground hugging T'Rex coming up

[bev]

my smallish plant has stood up well to the gusts so far and the leaf stems are much thicker this year. it's moving quite quickly now, about 3 feet to top leaf so when the heat kicks in it should rocket. i've just noticed my first pup this morning about 2 foot from the main plant. how big should i let it get before trying to dig it up and pot it?

here's the plant followed by the pup

cheers

lee

[Dave Brown]

my smallish plant has stood up well to the gusts so far and the leaf stems are much thicker this year. it's moving quite quickly now, about 3 feet to top leaf so when the heat kicks in it should rocket. i've just noticed my first pup this morning about 2 foot from the main plant. how big should i let it get before trying to dig it up and pot it?

here's the plant followed by the pup

cheers

lee

Mine was ok last year, even in the gales, and we had shed loads of them This year it is about 18 inches taller and seems to make all the difference.

I would leave the pups for a year, as they seem to grow much quicker attached to the parent. Also someone, can't remember who, suggested locating and severing the parent root but leave the plant in place for a month or two to build up its own root system before digging out. That is what I intend to do, but have not done it before

[Chalk Brow]

Mine is not 'Rex' (I'm not sure that cultivar is worth the premium on my impoverished soil), but it's not fairing very well, in fact a couple of days ago I discovered the new growth on top of the solitary stem had disappeared, just leaving a three feet tall bare stem – I'd post a picture, but who wants to look at a bare stick? I don't know if it was the wind or snails (virtually no slugs in this garden, but snails by the bucket-load!); I suspect the snails as it did not appear to be a clean break. So I have taken to opportunity to cut it down further; the removed stem is now cut into sections and stuck in pots in the hope they will root (not what I consider the right time of year for woody cuttings, but then what have I got to lose?)

[Dave Brown]

CB, snails don't mind dry, but they don't like dry sand. you could always put a ring of sand around your Tetrapanax.

I'm not sure that stem cuttings work on Aralias, and I think these are the same type of plant as Fatsia, and my stem cuttings have never taken for 3 years. Steve Jacobs (Phoeinix) said they are much more reliable from Root Cuttings. Here he gives a step by step guide to T'Rex propagation.

[Chalk Brow]

Thanks for the link Dave, very interesting.

As for the snails, I've tried everything to no avail, and have come to the conclusion that I will just have to live with them. It simply means avoiding the plants they for; Hostas for example, once planted are never seen again, even the supposedly slug and snail proof ones are eat as quickly as the leaves emerge. Having learned that snails are colonising creatures it seems a futile battle, for no matter how many are removed from the garden others will simply move in to occupy the vacated space.

[AndrewBird]

I really want to get one of these. I was recomended to get one on the welcoming thread, and didnt know what it was until i saw this. They look really interesting. Very troical. Where can you buy them from?

[Tessa]

Anyone have any experience on how big a pup should be before digging it up and separating it from its parent plant? And how much root do I give to the pup? And, most importantly, is there a way to make it so that root doesn't create another pup? I really don't want T-Rex babies all over my garden. I'm ok with this one, I'll give it away or sell it on ebay, but I don't want others.

~ Tessa