Cyathea Medularis Container Growing(Pictures Update)

greendragon

Cyathea Medularis Container Growing(Pictures Update)

Post by greendragon »

I am thinking about buying a Medularis that will come in a 10litre pot. I have a few spare 40litre pots, would it be ok to put it straight into one of these? And how long would it take to fill this container usually?

I will be putting it in an unheated room of my house during winter which stays above zero and gets some light
Last edited by greendragon on Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Yorkshire Kris
Posts: 10163
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 8:59 am
Location: Rural South Wakefield, Yorkshire Lat 53.64 Long-1.54

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

greendragon wrote:I am thinking about buying a Medularis that will come in a 10litre pot. I have a few spare 40litre pots, would it be ok to put it straight into one of these? And how long would it take to fill this container usually?

I will be putting it in an unheated room of my house during winter which stays above zero and gets some light

Generally the bigger the pot the bigger the fronds can get so I can't see any reason why not to pot it up into a 40 litre pot. The roots grow pretty fast so will fill it pretty quickly.
greendragon

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by greendragon »

How quick do you reckon it would fill it kris?

On a side note, do you put stuff in the bottom of your pots to aid drainage like pebbles or styrofoam? Every plant I buy from nurseries comes with nothing in the bottom but my family has always advocated putting something on the bottom of the pot to aid drainage. I have pots with pre-drilled drainage holes from Hart Canna.
Tom2006
Posts: 8094
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 11:23 am
Location: East Yorkshire UK

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by Tom2006 »

I have just potted up my Medularis that I got from Amulree. I'm not sure what size the new pot is but I would estimate around the 30 litre mark, maybe more. I used mainly good compost mixed with some bark chips, a bit of perlite and a few handfuls of ericacious compost. I broke up a terracotta pot prior to this and laid the pieces on the bottom and then put a couple of cm's of 1cm+ gravel to allow for improved drainage.

The fern I potted up with in a plastic pot of around 3-5 litres and was completely and utterly pot bound. I have no idea how long it will take to fill this pot but I estimate a couple of years.
Most wanted list - Any Young Trachycarpus and/or fern.
greendragon

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by greendragon »

I'm probably going to just fill up the pot with john innes no.3. I don't think a moisture lover will be very fussy about perfect drainage so I will probably not use perlite. I'm going to put Styrofoam peanuts at the bottom for drainage so the pot does not get heavier. I once used pebbles but found that the pot became alot heavier lol.
Tom2006
Posts: 8094
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 11:23 am
Location: East Yorkshire UK

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by Tom2006 »

I always add perlite (varying amounts depending on the plant) to virtually all multipurpose because it has a bad habit of compacting down and becoming water logged in the areas with no roots. I didn't put much in, but put a good few handfuls of bark chip to further break up the soil. Its not so much the plant not minding moist conditions, but few plants will push roots into compacted water logged soil.
Most wanted list - Any Young Trachycarpus and/or fern.
greendragon

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by greendragon »

John Innes no.3 mix contains a certain amount of gravel and sand anyway. Should I still use perlite? I do have a large sack of the stuff.
Tom2006
Posts: 8094
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 11:23 am
Location: East Yorkshire UK

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by Tom2006 »

There is very little info. On growing them in pots but the advice given to me was to break up the soil to prevent compaction and rot, especially as they need watering through winter. A few handfuls of perlite will do good rather than harm but ultimately do what you feel happiest as I am new to keeping/growing Cyathea. 8)
Most wanted list - Any Young Trachycarpus and/or fern.
User avatar
Arlon Tishmarsh
Posts: 6957
Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:53 am
Location: Horizontal

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by Arlon Tishmarsh »

I'd go with Tom and add some extra drainage. Its my understanding that they like moisture at the roots but not saturated and stood in water. I repotted my larger cooperi last year and used well rotted horse poo, equal (ish) amount of bark and MP and some grit etc. Also a handful or two of chicken pellets in the mix as a slow release.

Seems to work ok because both cooperi's send out nice big fronds icon_thumleft
griphuz

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by griphuz »

I would start with a 10L, then a 20L, 30L and eventualy the 40Lpot. Otherwise it will fill the 40L pot in one season with roots, and it will have the complete pot filled with roots before the rest of the plant can keep up with the growth.
If it finally keps up with the growth and food/water demands the pot is rootfilled and can't supply that, so the plant could collapse...Getting following potsizes prevents that.

Kind regards,
Remko.
greendragon

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by greendragon »

Well Its arrived from Mulu and the fronds are huge, they are close to 5ft long and it has 5 of them. I repotted into a 40litre pot of john innes no3 and perlite, very happy with it but it's larger than I expected, maybe Squarossa would have been a better option for pulling indoors haha.

Once the plant outgrows this 40litre tub im gonna chuck it in the ground and use heating cables during winter. My goal will be to have the largest Medullaris grown outdoors in the UK lol.
User avatar
Dave Brown
Site Admin
Posts: 19742
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
Contact:

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by Dave Brown »

I always plant rain forest plants in organic based compost (peat/bark), not loam.

I use MP compost with additional drainage, as most plants don't like anaerobic conditions, even if they want lashings of water. The drainage is in the form of chipped bark, and gravel. I've gone off perlite as the compost doesn't stabilise well. and watering continues to churn it up bringing the perlite to the surface. gravel stays put in the compost.
Best regards
Dave
icon_thumright
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
pdid

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by pdid »

greendragon wrote:Well Its arrived from Mulu and the fronds are huge, they are close to 5ft long and it has 5 of them. I repotted into a 40litre pot of john innes no3 and perlite, very happy with it but it's larger than I expected, maybe Squarossa would have been a better option for pulling indoors haha.

Once the plant outgrows this 40litre tub im gonna chuck it in the ground and use heating cables during winter. My goal will be to have the largest Medullaris grown outdoors in the UK lol.
Pics?
greendragon

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing

Post by greendragon »

pdid wrote:
greendragon wrote:Well Its arrived from Mulu and the fronds are huge, they are close to 5ft long and it has 5 of them. I repotted into a 40litre pot of john innes no3 and perlite, very happy with it but it's larger than I expected, maybe Squarossa would have been a better option for pulling indoors haha.

Once the plant outgrows this 40litre tub im gonna chuck it in the ground and use heating cables during winter. My goal will be to have the largest Medullaris grown outdoors in the UK lol.
Pics?
Note: Please ignore the partially painted walls, the weather has not allowed me to finish the task lol. My patio is the most neglected area of my home at the moment.

Just took these 5 minutes ago. The white mark you can see is just where the hair has been rubbed off one side of the newest crozier(I didn't do it).

Image

Image
pdid

Re: Cyathea Medularis Container Growing(Pictures Update)

Post by pdid »

Looks good, don't worry about the house, everyone has unfinished jobs!
Post Reply