Posted by Tom Broome on 5/25/2007, 1:20 pm, in reply to "cycad strategy" --Previous Message--
64.12.116.204
: Let me preface by saying I have over
: 12 different species of cycad,
: growing in pots (I live in NY)...the
: largest is a 30" trunk C
: rumphii, smallest is a 2"
: caudex E laurentianus, and
: everything in between.
:
: I know that warmth, water and
: fertilizer are prerequisites for
: leaf growth. My question is - how
: important is light, until the leaves
: begin to sprout?
:
: Typically, my plants are pretty dry
: and dormant indoors through the
: winter. As it gets warm enough
: (40's night, 60's day), they go
: outside in my garden in the sun
: (around mid-April). New leaf growth
: does not begin until it really warms
: up (late May-June) and I water and
: fertilize frequently, but this takes
: a few months.
:
: Does it make sense to begin the
: watering and fertilizing regime
: while the plants are still indoors
: in the warmth, to give them a
: physiologic head-start? Or am I
: potentially risking the new flushes
: if they begin indoors, but are then
: taken outside where there is plenty
: of sun but it may not be ideally
: warm enough?
:
: Thanks in advance.
:
Light is important because it gives energy to the plant. Plants that I grow outside all year will produce more sets of leaves and cones in a higher light situation as compared to a lower light situation (like in deep shade)Putting them out in the light WILL give you better energy for new growth, but you also have to remember that cycads have certain patterns of growth that are usually either in spring or fall.(which is spring for people on the south side of the world) If you were to ask,"what would you do in my situation?" I would fertilize about 3 weeks before they go out, because that is about the time frame for my fertilizer to work, and that way they will go out and flush a normal set of leaves instead of sun stretched leaves. Now just to mess you up after saying this, if you took the plants outside first and let them get some sun, and then fertilize them, the plants will store up some extra energy and it is possible (but no guarantee)that the flush that comes up might have more leaves than a flush that is initiated inside, but now you are talking about getting a flush at least 1 or 2 months later than the other method.
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