Hardy Tropicals UK

Does anyone know why Dicksonia antarctica change colour? If you purchase a freshly harvested log or look at pictures of Dicksonia antarctica in the wild they have a deep red/ brown trunk on them but once they have been planted in Britain for a year or so the colour slowly mellows and sometimes they turn a grey colour or dark brown. Why is this?

Not sure....mine have the rustic red look more when wet......which in the rain forests will be nearly all the time.

The Codfather wrote:Not sure....mine have the rustic red look more when wet......which in the rain forests will be nearly all the time.

Maybe but its not always raining in the Victorian forests and they look bright red when they first come out of the containers and haven't been exposed to any weather for a month or so. There must be something about or weather or poetically rain or soil that changes the appearance.

I think its something to do with adapting to the environment/climate around them. In cultivation they'd be kept humid at all times for optimal growth and looks when on sale. When they are then planted in Britain, they slowly change with the dry warm summers and freezing winters. Nothing to worry about in my opinion. The greyer/browner it is, the more settled and established it is for our climate.

It does not worry me at all, never caused any problem to there growth. I don't think the colour chane is anything to do with humidity as i wouldn't think it would be much different here compared to Victoria. Its something else and i can not put my mind one what causes it. I read a lot about tree ferns but nothing is ever mentioned about this change that they go through.
I may email a nursery in Australia and try any get some answers to these questions as obviously they will see them growing in the wild and may be able to answer my question but also provide a guide on tree fern care that we as growers may not be aware of.

Mine is just a small one, color seems to have changed from a very dark brown to a lighter shade.

kata wrote:Mine is just a small one, color seems to have changed from a very dark brown to a lighter shade.

I think it will next turn a grey brown colour.

I could paint it a coordinating grass colour

When mine first come out of the greenhouse in spring they have the grey look but soon brown up with water, 2012 they were beautifull and dark brown with all the rain but 2013 summer was dry and even with daily watering they didn't look as Brown Rob, they were drying out too quickly i would think but you are the expert and what do i know lol..

Deedee wrote:When mine first come out of the greenhouse in spring they have the grey look but soon brown up with water, 2012 they were beautifull and dark brown with all the rain but 2013 summer was dry and even with daily watering they didn't look as Brown Rob, they were drying out too quickly i would think but you are the expert and what do i know lol..

I don't know, I'm at a loss. One of my tree ferns is quite grey but not as much as it was last year, but its outside all year and never dries out.

As Doncasterpalmboy suggested it could be enviromental then..

I have noticed this. I think its because they dry out during transport.

Tom2006 wrote:I have noticed this. I think its because they dry out during transport.

It can not be because they come out of the container bright red like they are in the wild, greenhouse specimens always seem to keep there colour.The other question is why would the hairs change colour due to them being dryer out as if you look at the hairs in the crown or pull a little off the trunk then they are red. Nothing seems to make sense on why this happens.

fern Rob wrote:

Tom2006 wrote:I have noticed this. I think its because they dry out during transport.

It can not be because they come out of the container bright red like they are in the wild, greenhouse specimens always seem to keep there colour.The other question is why would the hairs change colour due to them being dryer out as if you look at the hairs in the crown or pull a little off the trunk then they are red. Nothing seems to make sense on why this happens.

They aren't that colour in the wild.

Tom2006 wrote:

fern Rob wrote:

Tom2006 wrote:I have noticed this. I think its because they dry out during transport.

It can not be because they come out of the container bright red like they are in the wild, greenhouse specimens always seem to keep there colour.The other question is why would the hairs change colour due to them being dryer out as if you look at the hairs in the crown or pull a little off the trunk then they are red. Nothing seems to make sense on why this happens.

They aren't that colour in the wild.

They are dark red in the wild