Posted by Tom Broome on 2/1/2009, 9:51 pm, in reply to "Help with Cycas Circinalis"
205.188.117.67
--Previous Message--
: I hope someone can help me with the
: care of my cycas circinalis. I live
: in Mazatlan, Mexico, and bought a
: house with a beautiful, and
: apparently very old, cycas
: circinalis. It is approximately 20
: feet tall and it's trunk at the base
: has a diameter of 38 inches. I've
: searched and searched on the
: internet, but I am unable to find
: much information on the care for
: this particular species of cycad.
: And, unfortunately, I am unable to
: elicit the help of any professional
: here because, as far as I can tell,
: there are no professional
: horticulturists. Any fertilizer I
: buy has to come from the Home Depot
: here, which is not as well-stocked
: as those in the U.S. Anyway, I have
: no idea what's happening below the
: ground, as the root system is
: beneath a tiled patio. I've only
: been here a year, so I'm not sure of
: the complete cycle yet, but recently
: a lot of the leaves have been
: turning brown. I believe this to be
: normal, but do I pull off the entire
: branch myself, or wait until it
: falls on it's own? I did have cone
: production and new leaves this
: summer. It is just recently that it
: seems that a lot of the leaves are
: dying. Also, at the point where
: several smaller trunks branch off
: the main trunk, I now have something
: that looks like a fungus growing.
: It kind of looks like mushroom
: material. I break it off, and the
: next day, it is growing again. I
: tried spraying it with a fungicide,
: but it comes right back. I REALLY
: need to preserve this tree! It's
: hundreds of years old probably, and
: provides much-needed shade in the
: brutal summers here. Garden
: products are hard to find here, but
: I am making a trip to the States in
: a few weeks, so I should be able to
: buy something then, if you can
: recommend something for me. Thanks
: so much for any information!!
:
It is hard to say what the problem could be. Normally, if someone told me they had a plant like this and the roots were covered by a tile patio, I would say there is a lack of water getting to the roots at a time that the plant may need more water. You say it coned and produced leaves, which it would not do if it was in trouble for some reason. So, if there is truely something wrong, it has been just recently, which is still possible. On the fungus, just from you telling me this, I can't give you any for sure answers, BUT if the stem is growing small conchs on the stem, even though I have only seen this happen a couple of times, that is a sign of Ganaderma, which would be about impossible to get rid of. I would at least first try to give it extra water to see if that is the answer. If you were at a location where there were labs, I would say have the material analyzed to see if you have a fatal problem or not as a precaution.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread