Cycas flush....or not!

[Steph]

They need the high nitrogen feed and high temps.
All mine are sweating away nicely.

[Matcycas7]

Birmingham Chris, I won't recommend to chop all the fronds on any small or big Cycas. It is better to
buy big Cycas such that its trunk is as thick as your thigh. It will not only flush but also gives you
pups hanging on its trunk.

Nathan, submerging the Cycas in water may get a new flush but don't forget that it is an expensive plant.
Nature won't kill it, we kill it.

Last year 2012 it had a flush of 37 fronds but now it has only 25. I suspect the heavy rains that occured
strangely at summer time at around 40*c before and during the flush time of 14 days. During this flush time
we had 2 heavy rains, however I covered my cycas with a cloth. The flush started on 18th April 2013 and it
ended on 2nd May 2013 and has grown 38 inchs long with 25 fronds as wide as our face and twice the size
of an old frond overlapped on the giant frond as shown in the picture.

Now I know why it had only 25 fronds,because my Cycas knows that if it has created anything more than 25 then
it becomes hard to occupy space narrowly around its trunk as it has already decided to grow giant 9inchs
wide fronds even before I knew it.

[dino]

Great pictures

[Panama Pete]

Watering with hot water. Wouldnt that kill it.

[Panama Pete]

Watering with hot water. Wouldnt that kill it.

[cannondale28]

I had problems growing Sago Palms. In response, I looked at where they occur naturally and also searched for a weather station nearby which gave me the annual recorded weather (wunderground website). I found, in Japan, they live on slopes (good drainage) and the climate was tropical. Temperatures in the 30s centigrade with high rainfall.
In my greenhouse, the way I found was to keep them slightly tight in the pot in well drained compost. Keep the compost just moist under 25c then water freely above that. Hot and well watered is good.

Other things- The leaves seem to grow shorter with higher light levels, in the UK and I use slow release nitrogen fertilser as the roots are said to be delicate. My Sago is in a frost free greenhouse all year.

[Matcycas7]

Bermingam, if you like to chop all the fronds there is a correct method as shown in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAuaQK3oB2I
They dipped the trunk in some kind of white liquid in the tub after chopping all the fronds. The
reason for chopping all fronds is because they can ship more number of trunks in less space.
I don't know how long the naked trunks are kept before they get into pots for sale.

Cannondale, you said higher light levels makes leaves shorter. My Cycas gets 2 hours of morning sunlight.
The 1st 7 days the flush grows 1 feet long. The next 7 days is the fastest growth of 2 feet
you can ever imagine. Look at this 38 inchs long and 8 inchs wide frond. Is this normal growth ?

[Matcycas7]

To be precise it has 12 inchs wide fronds. Is it normal growth? I like to see if anyone out here has such a wide frond.