Strange baby Cycad growing behaviour!

During the Summer of 2007 I decided to give some newly hatched cycads a good soaking of heat in the greenhouse to try and encourage them to grow a new leaf. Some decided to respond. However mealy bugs decided they liked the taste of a particular species – Cycas Panzihuaensis – they quickly consumed the new emerging leaf before i even noticed they were there. The mealies didn’t bother the other cycads for some reason? Anyway, about 5 days later i saw that the same cycad had decided to put another leaf out!!!! Well this was a real surprise to me. I checked it for mealies and none seemed to be around. Well, within the next couple of days i went in there and saw the leaf had been chewed up yet again. This time however I thought to myself... “hmmm maybe it will grow another one?”... guess what... about 5 or so days later a third attempt emerged. This time the Cycad stayed with me wherever I went :D

This little escapade did get me thinking though... what would happen if i chopped emerging leaves off? I intend to try it out this Summer. I guess it will either stress the cycad out or... hopefully... make it grow faster. I know i can encourage new leaf production by defoliating grown cycads, but it never occurred to me that perhaps the same is true for baby ones too??? I’ll keep you posted.

Cycas Revoluta - Common Cycad

Cycads can appear to be very annoying plants to watch because they pretty much do nothing at all for ages then suddenly spring into life with a new set of leaves (the bigger the cycad the more leaves you get).

In their native countries they grow relatively quickly but in temperate climates you will need a sweaty greenhouse to get these boys moving.

Many people make claims of “cold hardy to -7, -10” and other ridiculous numbers for C. Revoluta. Trust me, unless your garden is desert dry in Winter your cycad will defoliate at 0 degrees. Wet Winters really stress this guy out, which is a real pity.

However, cycads in general are real tough guys. I annually defoliate mine (for storage really) and they will not be bothered by this as they push out new leaves the following Summer. I pile them into the greenhouse to help them along, so I’m not sure how long it would take to produce new leaves at say... room temperature?

Cycas Revoluta does seem to attract its fair share of pests. Mealy Bugs tend to sit in awkward to reach places so it is a real battle to eliminate them. Scale can be a real pig as they colonise the cycad within days. The only real remedy for scale is defoliation and a good soaking of systemic insecticide.

C. Revoluta is very commonly found in your local DIY store, but try and get a good sized one from a specialist as they are very slow to expand and you’ll be drawing your pension when they do.

Cycas Rumphii - A Real Sexy Cycad

I was lucky enough to find two mature samples of this guy on a German website (about 2 feet of trunk) which I instantly bought :D

I have been growing cycads from seed for a good while now, but the common Cycas Revoluta is the only one we seem to be able to find of any credible size in the UK.

Anyway, back to Rumphii. As soon as I put these guys in the sun their leaves browned off. I suppose they were reared in a hothouse rather than under proper sunlight. Only one of them looked really tatty so I chopped all it's leaves off and bunged it into the greenhouse.

It is now bulging up in the middle and ready to spring forth new leaves... hopefully 14 or more... we'll see I guess.

The Rumphii should be able to take full sun, but it does like it's air moisture, so placement on the edge of water (though not in it) would probably make it happy. I would never leave these guys outside in Winter, though apparently they are supposed to be trunk hardy to some degree.