Zamia floridana planted in the GH,

The Sago is filling out well, hard to get a good photo..........

Steve

Looks great, Steve!

Most of mine our doing well to. But I have noticed a trend. It seems as though some years one will put out several growths and then slow down the next year. This is most prevalent in container grown Cycads. Yet I do have a couple that are nearly side by side in the ground, yet one remains pretty inactive and another continues to flourish year after year. Pretty strange to me. I guess I must have done a better job during my initial plantings.

Coincidence continues: Another example is I planted two Live Oak trees at the same time about 2002. One of two of the Oaks I planted is on the North side of a hill and has grown tremendously. It probably has a trunk girth of 8-10" thick and over 18'-20' tall. Yet the other planted on the down side on the South slope has a girth of Approximately 5-8" thick. And in edition is a lot shorter and less progressive in it's growth. There is only about three reasons I can figure out this growth type syndrome. One, when planting I didn't dig holes equally and or back fill proportionally. Two the popular "Sandy Loam", that is used was more prevalent and deeper in the Southern downhill area of the yard as a result of wash down/ erosion. This I will explain further, this may be a phenomenon of Texas. Third there is some type of root girdling going on. By this I mean the tree in the pot for those of you who do not know basically strangle themselves.

Okay, now I will get to the "Sandy Loam" issue. I apologize if this seems to get a bit off the Cycad issue, but please read on as it will pertain. Here locally in Central Texas as part of the Political Buddy System/ or whatever you would prefer. 🙂 It is required that new houses have so much of the so called "Sandy Loam" dirt back filled in a yard. Initially this might seem good as this would provide new soil for grass and misc. plants to take off. However this dirt is basically a mined subsoil that comes from 20-50' deep in most cases and is pretty much dead in most cases. In edition there is often little to no nutritional value in this substance. It also has a tendency to pack down very tightly and dose not allow any oxygenation of the soil because of the lack of organic matter. In an effort to remedy the situation I continually introduce all types of humates, etc I can get my hands on.

The above example with the trees is the same with the cycads (Sago's), the down hill side (southern side) is not flourishing. So I suspect the "Sandy Loam" hypothesis. I would be curious to hear what anyone else thinks?

I once again apologize if I seem like I'm hijacking this thread, but it was one of the first that I've read in awhile and seemed most applicable here. 😯

Dean

Hi Dean, It was photos of your Sago that inspired me to get mine planted.
(it may be inside the GH, but it's still in the ground 😀

In my opinion, it sounds like soil compaction is the biggest issue. It might benefit to use something like lava rock as an amendment. It's fairly inert and will introduce plenty of air space.
I've been using it in my containers with good results, Lowes sells bags of this as "Flower Rock"
Think it's marketed by this company: http://coloradolava.com/index.html

Steve

Dioons still moving along,

Zamia vazquezii too,

Steve

Here is 2 1/2 months of Dioon growth condensed into a short video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lInWHvKf06o

Steve

The Dioon edule in the green house, I like the color of this one 8)

Steve

Here's the Same Dioon a few weeks later,

And a small one with good color,

Zamia polymorpha seedling growth, 4-9-2009 to 7-11-2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7K2RjDZGYo

Encephalartos gratus,

Encephalartos natalensis,

New frond on a Macrozamia glaucophylla,

week or so later,

Just noticed a Bowenia "Tinaroo" starting a new frond 8)

This is a Zamia floridana X furfuracea seedling, has a nice emergent color.

And another Dioon in the GH.

Steve

Burnt leaves on the Sago this year, those leaves hardened off in full sun last year, thought it would be safe just to move it back outside. (oops..... 😆

New flush looks good!

Steve

This Sago in the corner starting it's second flush this year,

And some misc,

Steve

Amazing stuff Steve. 8)