Poorly plants

[Sanke]

Hi all
I have been reading loads on here & think the forum is a great source of inspiration. I have a couple of quick questions that I hope I can get some advice about;

1) We bought a small Bannana Palm (red leaves & Chinese) earlier this year & it was doing well until we returned from holiday in August. Whilst we were away severe storms had blown its pot over & its main stem was now growing at 90 degrees !! I returned it to its correct position & since then it has started to return to upright. Now about 45 degrees How should I progress ? Should I just continue (I was going to over winter in the greenhouse / conservatory) or remove leaves etc (as seen on one of Yourkshire Kris' videos) & store dry in the hope that it wll grow straight next year ?

2) We had a tree fern Dickson Antartica & the leaves started to go brown The local GC who supplied it advised us to remove the leaves completely (leaving just the trunk) & that it would regrow. It didn't It has been several months since we did this so I don't expect it to return Did we do wrong to remove the leaves or were we just unlucky ?

Thanks
Steve

[fern Rob]

The Dicksonia antarctica would not have died due to the fronds being removed. Have you got a picture of it and one of its crown? How does the Dicksonia antarctica crown feel.

[Sanke]

Hi Rob
I can get a picture tomorrow. It feels soft, a bit like cotton wool

[charliepridham]

Follow Robs advice and feel in the top, see if you can feel any knuckles, which are new fronds in waiting, I am wondering if the fern got very dry at some point?
The trunk as well as the pot needs to be damp, they are actually quite difficult to re wet if they dry right out.

Anyway pictures should help someone to tell you whether it was on the way out when you bought it or whether a hot dry period has just made it go dormant

[Sanke]

Will get pictures of both tomorrow & that may make things easier for someone to advise
Thanks for help so far

[fern Rob]

They can go dormant for 12 months in rare surcumstances. Pictures would be great.

[fern Rob]

You may need to put a hose pipe in the grown and spray the trunk for 10 minutes or so.

[Tom2006]

The fronds on a Dicksonia Antarctica will only brown and die due to three things. Deep cold, too dry and possibly too much sun, although the latter is very unlikely in this country.

I would hazard that its been too dry if they have died this summer. You can try soaking the crown but I would guess its too late. If you can feel and see green knuckles inside the crown (top where the fronds grew from) then its still alive. If not then its almost certainly dead....sorry to say

[GREVILLE]

Welcome to the forum, Sanke

Good advice on your tree ferns. If you can provide a pic of your lop-sided nana as well that will be helpful.

[fern Rob]

I had a Dicksonia antarctica that I thought was dead, I put It on the compost heap and 12 month later it re fronded.

[Tom2006]

I had a Dicksonia antarctica that I thought was dead, I put It on the compost heap and 12 month later it re fronded.

But what caused the seeming death of yours Rob? Im certainly not saying chuck this one away, I kept my dead ones after Dec 2010 for a couple of years, (in fact I still have the larger logs) in the hope they would sprout back to like. But for a tree fern to loose its fronds during the growing season would suggest one very very poorly or dead tree fern.

[fern Rob]

I had a Dicksonia antarctica that I thought was dead, I put It on the compost heap and 12 month later it re fronded.

But what caused the seeming death of yours Rob? Im certainly not saying chuck this one away, I kept my dead ones after Dec 2010 for a couple of years, (in fact I still have the larger logs) in the hope they would sprout back to like. But for a tree fern to loose its fronds during the growing season would suggest one very very poorly or dead tree fern.

It would suggest to me dried out, sun damage, or chemical of some sort. My Dicksonia antarctica that went dormant for a year was in a poly house and was badly effected by winter 2010.no sign of life for a year so I didn't water it. I purchased a young Dicksonia antarctica and started to hollow to crown out to find that deep down in the crown I had damaged small new croziers. I started to re water the Dicksonia antarctica and it eventually through a few croziers. It as took 3 years to get a good crown on it and slowly it is getting better.

[Sanke]

I have braved the weather & taken photos but cant see how to attach them to the post Have you got to have so many posts before you can add attachments ??

[Blairs]

I have braved the weather & taken photos but cant see how to attach them to the post Have you got to have so many posts before you can add attachments ??

In the Post a reply page scroll down a bit to upload attachment then hit the browse button to locate the pic.

[multim]

I too, am nursing a D.A. back to health. I bought it cheap, plenty of fronds but mostly deformed and although the roots had formed, they had rotted. This was probably due to having sat in a deep tray of water against some barrier to prevent the fronds from growing straight. Oh well, it should be okay - I'll just have to wait another 5 months or so for some new fronds!
To add the image, scroll down to 'Attach files' - click' browse' to find the image on your PC - double click the image then add the file and click 'submit' The image must be less than 1mb in size. The one's suitable for e-mail attachments work fine.