Cyathea treefern hardiness in the UK?

[skelding]

As a further note to the above posting, you can see what happens when a trunked australis can be acquired, as you need a rootball, which you don't get as soil can't be imported from abroad. The tree fern goes into shock and produces smaller fronds, which then increase each year as the root ball re-establishes.

The fern on the left is a cooperi and the two on the left are Dicksonia antarctica

My small DF can be seen here, with the large Dicksonia antarctica on the left

[dino]

Oh go on then you big tease

[Melissa]

I know Melissa had a C medullaris, how has your's fared Mel

Our Medularis has lost all the small side branches that it had but the main trunk seems ok.

C australis, is now pushing up new fronds, this was it last year so hope it comes back to look like this again.

DSC02134.JPG (148.95 KiB) Viewed 3290 times

C cooperi, and C dealbata, are also pushing up fronds. C smithii, Fibrosa, Squarrosa are yet to show but then they are allways later to show than the others.

So far the only loss is our 3 ft C cunninghamii, gutted about that

Thought we might have lost a 6ft Dicksonia antarctica but it's seems ok now. All the others are ok to and now pushing up fronds

Melissa

[skelding]

Took these photos of my australis this morning



here is the crown..

[jbrimaco]

Interesting... I've been away for a week so the responses have been gratifying. I have been growing Dicksonias (antarctica and squarrosa) for about 20 years so ... if your croziers are black, it's dead. If brown (or some other colour) its probably going to survive. In Vancouver, we get some nasty winters that drop to about -12 to -15C for a short while. This occurs about every 6 -10 years, so memory fades in interim mild spells. Here are my "treefern rules" that have almost always worked for Dicksonias. 1. If it's going to be -5C or colder, cut off all the fronds. 2. Wrap the entire trunk in fiberglass wool (home wall insulation in NA) at least 2 inches thick including the crown, and 3. Use plastic garbage bags or some other waterproof plastic to totally cover your work. This was fine for -15C in our own bad winter 2 years ago - no damage to my 5 footer, which resprouted mightily with 20 fronds on May. Well, not quite - my squarrosa 3 foot trunk died, but has come back from the base. as suckers.
I tried the same treatment with Cyathea smithii (1 foot trunk) years ago but it died. It hit a bad winter on it's first year out so maybe that was anomalous. Anyway, it seems that protection techniques in the UK aren't very different than here, so I will probably continue to use my Dicksonia method in the Cyatheas. Assuming, of course, that fiberglass insulation = "fleece" in the threads above.

[DiCasS]

I sort of cheated as mine were indoors, they wouldn't have survived outside here this Winter. Brought my tenderish tree ferns out for the Summer today with my squarrosa just about to send out its first frond. I can feel knuckles in the medularis, but not moving yet and my Cyathia cunninghammii currently has a flush of 10. All these are only small plants and am pleased that I've got them through this Winter in my garage.

My Dicksonia antarctica's were fine until the middle part of March, I felt knuckles and there was green present underneath, but early part of April and one had the knuckles rot and half of the knuckles had gone on another one All mine were protected with fleece stuffed in the top and around the top part of the trunk as I do every year.

Sorry to see your pics Neal, disheartening

Di

[metalhammer]

I must get another medullaris,lost my biggest one about 4 years back,another dodgy weather forecast unfortunately,was forecast as -2c overnight,actually got down to -7c,totally trashed the growing point.I think I'll start with a seedling.I have found a nursery fairly local to me who does various seedling tree ferns for £12.50 each,he has Cyathea australis & cooperi,Dicksonia squarrosa & antarctica.


Check out www.sheilatiffin.co.uk she is based in Cornwall,just wish I drag my tired 'arris down to Tremenheere gardens this coming weekend she is going to be at open day,her website shows a very good range of tree ferns,just hope she eventually starts selling mailorder.

metalhammer.

[metalhammer]

The place near here that sells young tree ferns in www.bentleyplants.pherber.com It's at West Tytherley near Salisbury.





metalhammer.

[Eddy]

Melissa, what are the strange looking plants in front of the C Australis, the one's that look like green plates It looks like there are about three or four of them. Just curious.

[fgtbell]

In the last two winters I have lost Cyathea australis, cooperii, medullaris, tomentosissima, brownii, smithii and dealbata. I have no Cyatheas left. Also lost Dicksonia squarrosa. I have one D. fibrosa looking very sick indeed, but it may recover. All of the Cyatheas were thoroughly protected, but not artificially heated or taken indoors.

The problem with ferns is that if you cut off the air circulation completely, they will rot, and if you don't water them during the winter when it's freezing they will (eventually) die of being too dry (which is what happened to my fibrosa, I think), and if you do water them when it's freezing, they will get ice forming inside the trunk. You can't win this one. I'm not going to try/buy any more Cyatheas until (unless) we have a run of at least two or three zone 9b winters like the ones we had between 1999 and 2007. At the moment I can't convince myself that the -8C winters will go away anytime soon. The absolute minimum is a problem for Cyatheas but so too is the run of two or three weeks when the temps never rise above zero by day, because you basically cannot water at all during this period.

If you have a conservatory or greenhouse then Cyatheas should be OK, given minimum temps that are a couple of degrees above freezing. You might lose some fronds on the tenderest species, but they will re-shoot if the growing point is not lost.

[metalhammer]

I'll only buy seedlings & grow them on for years undercover.Only ones I'll risk outside permanently are Dicksonia antarctica's,all mine have survived the last 2 winters unprotected.




metalhammer.

[Melissa]

Melissa, what are the strange looking plants in front of the C Australis, the one's that look like green plates It looks like there are about three or four of them. Just curious.

It's a Podophyllum 'Kaleidoscope', it was one of my favourite plants last year.

There's also a P 'spotty Dotty'

Melissa

[Eddy]

Wow Thank Mel, I take it they got through the last two winters. At least I now have their name.

[Melissa]

Wow Thank Mel, I take it they got through the last two winters. At least I now have their name.

Yep, Spotty dotty is up about a 1ft allready, the other one is just coming up.

Melissa

[Adam D]

Wow Thank Mel, I take it they got through the last two winters. At least I now have their name.

Yep, Spotty dotty is up about a 1ft allready, the other one is just coming up.

Melissa

My spotty dotty and kaleidoscope managed to survive the dreadful winter we had up here.

I reckon that they are pretty tough things