Hardy Tropicals UK

I had better go and show it some love

No, what it needs is a good kickin.....

Sorry for pics they are off my phone and difficult to get any showing all three clearly.

I certainly have gone through the feeling of wanting to kick her into submission! She used to be a true beauty with a really thick trunk with a huge crown of glory but this is what she has turned into so I have had to get used to it as there is not a lot I can do about it .

I am a little worried, that as I can no longer pull down the spent fronds from the center they will go hard and brittle leaving ever decreasing crown space?!? Any suggestions on what I could do about that would be greatly appreciated as you can see she still has the majority of last years fronds attached as I am in a quandary about the best way to remove so have done nothing rather than do it wrong

Cathy have you had any problems with your double?
I guess you don't have such an issue as with mine its the fact that they are "trapped" in the centre of the triangle she has created .
How long did yours take to get through the messy fronds going all over place stage or does it still do it?

I guess the answer to all these things will come in time, but would like to know I am helping and not contributing to her demise!

That tree fern is great, Dicksonia antarctica are not supposed to multi trunk, as multi trunks are normally when one Dicksonia antarctica has rooted in to another, but it is clear that Dicksonia antarctica has multi trunked.

Thanks Rob yes she is a bit 'special' any ideas about disposal of middle fronds? should I just cut as low as possible do you think?

I really have no idea how to stop the crown closing up. If you cut it back then it may block the crown, the new crowns may start to grow out but that is a total guess. This is a really rare occurrence for a Dicksonia antarctica and have never came across it so have no idea what the plant will do.

Looks like the fern originally had one growing point then some damage caused it to form several growth points.

Yeah Chris I had it for at least 5 years before it started to do this. I think it started after THAT winter so maybe it was frost damage? I did lose a small one the same winter. Tho I was wondering in my naivety if this is what happened when they became really wide as in comparison to others I have seen she has a huge girth But all the advise on here seems to point towards some sort of damage so I am sure you are right.

Well it is rare and should be a focal point.