How's your knuckles? (Tree Ferns)

Mr List · Post by **Mr List** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 5:45 am

yes, mine too.

they all look quite thin and its £35 for a 1 footer.
i will keep my eyes out for them in the sales.

Tom2006 · Post by **Tom2006** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:13 pm

Mr list. Your only an hour from the place near me. 79.99 or 99.99 for AWESOME tree ferns. My newest is about 15" across....a beast! Super healthy, well worth the trip.

Mr List · Post by **Mr List** » Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:12 pm

i dont want a really tall one though.

a Dicksonia antarctica is something i am saving for a future purchase unless i see one going too cheap to miss.

mathewtaylor · Post by **mathewtaylor** » Sat May 07, 2011 11:13 am

Well i've given my Dicksonia antarctica a good trim to make it a bit more dome shaped, and removed all the damaged brown fronds. All the green fronds emerging are a peculiar 'n' shape, not curled up like the pictures of yours I've seen. Not sure if you guys have seen this before, and if you think I should remove these too?
any advice appreciated as always!

Tom2006 · Post by **Tom2006** » Sat May 07, 2011 11:22 am

Yes trim them all off and water well and it will send up new fronds

mathewtaylor · Post by **mathewtaylor** » Sat May 07, 2011 12:05 pm

Thanks Tom, will do.
Getting impatient to see one of these things unfurling. Amazing plants.

Tom2006 · Post by **Tom2006** » Sat May 07, 2011 12:26 pm

There should be another flush of fronds below waiting to come through. They are awesome plants!

Post by **Dave Brown** » Sat May 07, 2011 3:18 pm

Woah

Don't cut them off yet

I found one of mine... Fatboy Dicksonia antarctica had odd croziers, where they had been 'n' shaped, but then started to elongate sidways, becoming wider and wider 'n'.

To me it looked like the coiled up part of the crozier was stuck and were not unfurling, but were lengthening still coiled. See Pic. 21st April

What I put this down to was the as Fatboy Dicksonia antarctica is so fat, where they had cut all the fronds off for transport they harden in the upright position. Even though I had cut the frond bases back to a slight dome this still created a pinch point as the Dicksonia antarctica tried to grow. The pinch point was the coiled up croziers jammed against each other and unable to move. It may have sorted itself out but I pulled the cut frond bases apart and eased the coiled up croziers free

From then on it has been ok.

Croziers now free and growing normally 27th April

Here 4th May

Yorkshire Kris · Post by **Yorkshire Kris** » Sat May 07, 2011 3:21 pm

DON'T DO IT. Any unhindered green fronds will sort themselves out!!!

mathewtaylor · Post by **mathewtaylor** » Sat May 07, 2011 3:56 pm

too late! they've been defronderised!
To be fair, when i removed them I found them to be really really deformed and stunted and I can see new knuckles underneath what was removed so hopefully it's all good.

I think you're right Dave about the old cut frond bases causing the problem, i've tried to remove as much as I can without touching the new growth coming up, fingers crossed it's now got enough room for the new growth to come up
thanks again all for your advice, this forum is a godsend for novices like me!

ps - dave, what did you use to pull up the stumps of cut frond bases? pliers?

kevineden · Post by **kevineden** » Sat May 07, 2011 5:24 pm

why is my 7ft Dicksonia antarctica only producing 12 inch

fronds

Tom2006 · Post by **Tom2006** » Sun May 08, 2011 12:19 am

Don't worry Mathew yours will be fine better to allow the healthy fronds to come through they

looked very badly manggled together.

Kevin is yours in a pot? If not it could be due to the harsh winter and or lack or water and or nutrients.

Post by **Dave Brown** » Sun May 08, 2011 12:31 am

Tom2006 wrote:Don't worry Mathew yours will be fine better to allow the healthy fronds to come through they looked very badly manggled together.

Kevin is yours in a pot? If not it could be due to the harsh winter and or lack or water and or nutrients.

Or lack of roots in the ground. Dicksonia antarctica may get an amount of water through the crown but frond size is more likely to be how well it is rooted, if at all.

kevineden · Post by **kevineden** » Mon May 09, 2011 5:10 pm

mines in a pot now it was in the ground i moved it last summer i feed with a bit of fish blood and bone and osmocote i use an irrigation system when you water do you water a lot in the centre a lot or let it run down the trunk how long will it take to start getting larger fronds

DiCasS · Post by **DiCasS** » Mon May 09, 2011 6:16 pm

Mines putting on a poor show too Kevin. Last year, beautiful thick lush fronds, but this year are weak/feeble and not going to be very long at all by the looks of them at the moment. Think Niagera Falls and a babbling brook, well mines the latter

Di

How's your knuckles? (Tree Ferns)

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