How to start off a 7-footer?
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
I always plant them out when I gat Dicksonia antarctica. They experience minus numbers in Aus. My new Dicksonia antarctica croziers are already starting to lift out of the crown. The quicker they are out of dormancy the better.
When a Dicksonia antarctica is harvested it has to sit on a nursery for 6 months, then the freighting and shipping can take a month, as well as they can be kept for aslong as is required on the docks as sometimes they check them and empty the whole container.
You have to remember that the containers are refrigerated at low tempratures to keep them dormant so they are becoming acclimatised on the way over.
When a Dicksonia antarctica is harvested it has to sit on a nursery for 6 months, then the freighting and shipping can take a month, as well as they can be kept for aslong as is required on the docks as sometimes they check them and empty the whole container.
You have to remember that the containers are refrigerated at low tempratures to keep them dormant so they are becoming acclimatised on the way over.
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
They will come out of dormancy 3x faster in a conservatoryfern Rob wrote: The quicker they are out of dormancy the better.
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
I think this question could rumble on & on!, its all down to what individual's feel comfortable with. From the very outset of developing my rear garden i was adamant i would not pussy foot around to much & my sole aim is a realistic looking tropical garden almost pot free, plant & forget unless they die!!.I dont believe there's any advantage starting off a 7ft monster log in a conservatory as it will just acclimatize to the room temp & not your garden. Anyway good luck. karl.
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
New logs will start to move when they want I tried everything last year with my new one and it wasn't on the move until June!
I would never be in a rush to see new croziers on any tree fern until April/may as we can still have frosts which will kill new fronds, another reason for starting growth in a greenhouse/conservatory.
Whilst I respect the views of those who say just plant out and what will be will be is alien to me with such special plants as thus. as Dave says TLC all the way, whatever is needed to keep them happy must be done.
I would never be in a rush to see new croziers on any tree fern until April/may as we can still have frosts which will kill new fronds, another reason for starting growth in a greenhouse/conservatory.
Whilst I respect the views of those who say just plant out and what will be will be is alien to me with such special plants as thus. as Dave says TLC all the way, whatever is needed to keep them happy must be done.
Most wanted list - Any Young Trachycarpus and/or fern.
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
Id wait until the cold spell is over. No need to rush to soak through! Then when ready to plant hose down for 10 mins once upright and in position. I has two trunks in my garden of dead Dicksonia antarctica when I moved definitely exercise caution as their not even rooted yet
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
Mine are in the unheated Ghouse with fleece in the crown, since October last year they have been watered twice, second time yesterday, just a little watering as the sun was shining. I felt inside the crown and there are new crosiers same as every year YAY, I done this even in the winters of 2010/11 and i live up north
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
Thanks all, very helpful debate.
I'm inclined to starting them off in the conservatory. Its not heated, and faces West, so doesn't get to very high temperatures (such that a South facing conservatory might) this time of the year. I would prefer to keep the frost off them this Spring, give them the Summer to get used to their surroundings, and then leave them out next Winter (with fleece-in-crown type protection)
I'm inclined to starting them off in the conservatory. Its not heated, and faces West, so doesn't get to very high temperatures (such that a South facing conservatory might) this time of the year. I would prefer to keep the frost off them this Spring, give them the Summer to get used to their surroundings, and then leave them out next Winter (with fleece-in-crown type protection)
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
I soaked one in an old bath yesterday for about 4 hours. It was trying to float ... and the top stuck out of the bath a fair bit.
But only the bottom 18" or so got wet.
Should I try again and persevere in order to get the trunk decently wet?
I figure trying to do it standing up will be much harder in practice.
But only the bottom 18" or so got wet.
Should I try again and persevere in order to get the trunk decently wet?
I figure trying to do it standing up will be much harder in practice.
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
Kristen, that sounds like a lot of hassle to me , as long as you keep them damp they will be fine, i've chatted with people who import them & they've satisfied me there tougher than most think, all 7 of mine are outside planted with just a small fleece ball, there getting all the natural moisture they require. karl.
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
I would just sit the base of each in a large bucket of rain water in a cool dark place for a few days. Watering the crown with a couple of litres will be good as well. Where do you plan to get it growing?Kristen wrote:I soaked one in an old bath yesterday for about 4 hours. It was trying to float ... and the top stuck out of the bath a fair bit.
But only the bottom 18" or so got wet.
Should I try again and persevere in order to get the trunk decently wet?
I figure trying to do it standing up will be much harder in practice.
Most wanted list - Any Young Trachycarpus and/or fern.
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Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
Under normal circumstances, Kristen will get a lot less rain.karl66 wrote:Kristen, that sounds like a lot of hassle to me , as long as you keep them damp they will be fine, i've chatted with people who import them & they've satisfied me there tougher than most think, all 7 of mine are outside planted with just a small fleece ball, there getting all the natural moisture they require. karl.
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Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
That's probably correct dave but do we really want soaking wet trunk's with the way temp's are at present? i would have thought moist is good & ample for this time of year. I think most folk are more concerned with acliamatizing & settling in of new trunk's rather than starting them off. If people are going down the overwintering indoor's road , they will of course dry out a lor quicker. karl.
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
Here's my thinking based on the views I have formed from earlier replies:
D.A. may have sat in quarantine for months - Frondless, and rootless
D.A. has travelled / been held up in customs for weeks / months
Planted outside it will be some time before it is warm enough to "move". This will give it a shorter first-season.
Thus I want to get them going in the unheated conservatory, without delay, and get them outside, in full "leaf", around say middle of May when no chance of any more frosts.
I have a large sack barrow so I think I will be able to get them outside, for hardening off etc., without too much trouble. They cost a lot of money, I don't mind mollycoddling them to give them a flying start.
So to that end I put them in the bath to try to get the trunks wet so they get off to the best possible start. But they don't seem to have absorbed much water, the trunks are still bone dry - except for the bottom bit.
Standing them in a bucket would be fine, but dousing the trunks is going to soon fill the bucket with water and then it will overflow onto the conservatory floor, making the place wet and thus humid. Hence attempting to use the bath instead
D.A. may have sat in quarantine for months - Frondless, and rootless
D.A. has travelled / been held up in customs for weeks / months
Planted outside it will be some time before it is warm enough to "move". This will give it a shorter first-season.
Thus I want to get them going in the unheated conservatory, without delay, and get them outside, in full "leaf", around say middle of May when no chance of any more frosts.
I have a large sack barrow so I think I will be able to get them outside, for hardening off etc., without too much trouble. They cost a lot of money, I don't mind mollycoddling them to give them a flying start.
So to that end I put them in the bath to try to get the trunks wet so they get off to the best possible start. But they don't seem to have absorbed much water, the trunks are still bone dry - except for the bottom bit.
Standing them in a bucket would be fine, but dousing the trunks is going to soon fill the bucket with water and then it will overflow onto the conservatory floor, making the place wet and thus humid. Hence attempting to use the bath instead
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
I think you are spot on with your plan. My only advice would be that they take virtually all their water VIA their base and crown so floating them in a bath will be unlikely to be anymore effective than sitting the base in a large container of water.
Most wanted list - Any Young Trachycarpus and/or fern.
Re: How to start off a 7-footer?
That explains why I'm not winning then! Thanks. So revised plan:Tom2006 wrote:I think you are spot on with your plan. My only advice would be that they take virtually all their water VIA their base and crown so floating them in a bath will be unlikely to be anymore effective than sitting the base in a large container of water.
Stand in tall-ish bucket of water. Water the crown daily.
Move from bucket of water to a large pot after a while (a few days stood in bucket of water enough??)
Harden off from start of May and plant out, say, mid May if weather looks like staying mild / frost free.