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Macrozamia macdonnellii


tank

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Any experience on the the minimum temps this plant can take would be appreciated. Is their any chance this cycad can take down to 20F in N. Florida?

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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  • Upvote 1

Matt Bradford

"Manambe Lavaka"

Spring Valley, CA (8.5 miles inland from San Diego Bay)

10B on the hill (635 ft. elevation)

9B in the canyon (520 ft. elevation)

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I'd say there's a very good chance - I just had a quick look at the minimum temps for Alice Springs Airport (closest met station to Macdonnell Ranges that I could find), and the lowest on record is -7.5C (18/19F).

The desert is cold at night...

Cheers,

Jonathan

South Arm, Tasmania, Australia - 42° South

Mild oceanic climate, with coastal exposure.

 

Summer: 12°C (53°F) average min, to 21°C (70°F) average daily max. Up to 40°C (104°F max) rarely.

 

Winter: 6°C (43°F) average min, to 13°C (55°F) average daily max. Down to 0°C (32°F) occasionally, some light frost.

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Most macrozamias take 18 pretty well and then are tested below that. I never tested mine, of the 22 plants I had, they just rotted, one at a time, over a 4 year period.

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This is a sort of touchy species... grows great in Southern California IF grown in full sun and super well draining soil... very drought tolerant. No I know of has complained about cold being a problem... but then 20F is not a temp most cycad growers out here experience often. Perhaps the Ironmongers had this temp now and then so they could probably answer this question better...

... on the other hand, University of Hawaii has some excellent large, coning plants that get many feet of rain a year and though in full sun, it is often cloudy and rainy there. Grown in lava so soil is even better draining than the best draining soil we have in California. I think heat is an important factor with this species as well as well draining soil. Not sure about cold, but full sun is extremely important if you have cold there.

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I don't have anything to add to the growing discussion, but I did take photos of a couple plants at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden yesterday:

post-1566-0-39138000-1397680726_thumb.jp post-1566-0-11390100-1397680738_thumb.jp

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Thanks for the responses. This would be an expensive experiment. I expect my conditions are more like Tom's than Fairchild BC's. Looks like its planted in Fairchild's arid garden in what I imagine is excessively well drained substrate.

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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I've learned a lot about growing unusual cycads in the last 22 years, which is how long it has been since I had this species. A lot of hard to grow Australian cycads do much better in deep pots with very little peat and more sugar sand and perlite. And then giving them good light and keeping them from being drenched by our massive rains. I'm getting ready to test my skills again. I have a batch of the new Cycas cupida seedlings. I think these will be worth the effort. Tom

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  • 2 years later...
On 15 April 2014 at 1:44:50 AM, MattyB said:

 

Classic 

Max High. (°C) 39         Av Days >= 30 degC 5    
Min Low. (°C) -5         Av Days <= 0 degC 26    
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