Hardy Tropicals UK

Mine are certainly getting watered well today as it's bucketing down now. Growthwise mine are doing okay at the moment with fronds about a foot over the crown. Just waiting on the ones that got zapped over Winter

Wow Nick that will look real impressive and stunning with 10ft fronds.

Di

A tree fern has to grow from a spore so has to be able to take all it's nutrient requirements through it's roots.A Dicksonia antarctica is the only tree fern that can be re-grown from a cut off trunk,all others have to arrive with a modicum of root.I have various Dicksonia antarctica's planted in the ground here,they went in as dried trunks from a numbe of suppliers,you can't even dig a small hole near the root base to plant anything,such is the mass of root.

I am an essentially organic gardener,so I go in for building the soil fertility up rather than chucking a load of chemical fertiliser at the plants.Occassionally mine get a spray of Maxicrop & maybe once a year,some fish emulsion as well.





metalhammer.

Whilst I agree with MH in principle re feeding etc, it must be remembered that ours are not growing in their natural habitat and have not grown to maturity in our gardens from spores along with their huge equally mature root system, ours having been harvested, chopped and separated from it. In habitat they also may grow (if like many other ferns) in a symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi which can supplement many of the ferns nutritional needs. These could very well be absent here, so ours may well be nutritionally disadvantaged compared to those in habitat.

It takes some years to develop a reasonable root system and the only available roots to access nutrients (and water) during that time will be in the the trunk (best accessed IMO via the crown). It is those years I think it important to water and feed to get the best results, afterwards, i agree, perhaps its less so.

Dicas if what Simon at Turn It Tropical said to me was right, which I hope it is, 10ft fronds would look very impressive,time will tell, I am still giving it lots of water, but there is no sign of life from the crown as yet.

mh, chicken pellets are not chemical, it's chicken poo, same as cow poo, horse poo.... organic. A £7.99 tub would last me about 50 years at the rate I apply it to Treeferns

Let's face it.... it is up to the individual what they do

Exactly Dave.I use chicken poo,not pellets.I use a product called 6x,but only on my veg garden,as I don't feed the exotics much,only use chicken poo on plants that need nitrogen,eg,cabbages,leeks.




metalhammer.

metalhammer wrote:Exactly Dave.I use chicken poo,not pellets.
metalhammer.

but it is the same stuff. One is compressed for ease of use the other as it comes.

The analysis of chicken poo is 3-3-3 which is why it is difficult to overfeed with.

I have been growing tree ferns for 10 years plus now and all I have given them in that time is Chicken poo pellets(when I can remember) and they seem as happy as Larry,you don't want to over feed tree ferns.

I was also told you could use chopped up banana peel in the crowns, they get some slow release nutrients from this, as they would from detritus falling into the crown in the wild, and the remnants of this will be ejected with the next flush of fronds.

They do like a good watering, but don't seem to suffer if it is not done on daily basis over the summer.

Newly bought tree ferns trunks can be incredibly dry, I have just bought three trunks to replace some dead cyathea , I placed them crown first into a dustbin full of rainwater for around half an hour, and they bubbled away like a jacuzzi.

Don't bury them too deep, just deep enough to ensure they are stable, I buried a 9 footer about a foot deep when I planted it and heaped soil up around its base and although it did fall down once just after I had planted it and given it a good watering, missing me my inches , it has remained standing for nine years to date.

Dicksonia antarctica are as tough as old boots, and they are stunning to look at.

Plant mine 6" deep & drive a stake in behind them & lash the plant to that for a couple of years until it's stablised.




metalhammer.

Dave,I am well aware that pellets are only compressed powder,you can buy 6X pellets.6X was the first chicken poo fertiliser I came across about 25years ago.But I don't use it on tree ferns.Might try the trick of chopped up banana skins in the crown though.



metalhammer.

Banana skin in the crown is what Akamba suggest and they've got some beauties.

Visited Akamba yesterday, picked up a my first Dicksonia antarctica (4ft). Banana skin and chicken pellets with lots of water, was there advice to me. sat watching for fronds to appear now..

My fronds seem to be all stalk at the moment with very very little green parts just showing now, the way it's going it will be all stalk and very little greenery, most sad, but there is still time for them to do something.
David shoot your sister and take her ball away, then that will stop her doing more damage to your poor Dicksonia antarctica

Since this thread was posted back in 2010 are people still using the tree fern food? What are the results like?
Can you overwater a tree fern? I hooked up an irrigation system to mine connected to the outdoor tap, the drippers go straight into the crown. Does anyone else use this method of watering?

infernored wrote:the drippers go straight into the crown. Does anyone else use this method of watering?

That's how the ones in the car-park at Urban Jungle were hooked up.

personally I use rainwater (i.e. by hand )