Cycad cones and flushes

[Gallop]

Hybrid F2 Cycas seed should be ready in a couple months. 
Cycas panz x Cycas multifrondis X Cycas multifrondis x  (tropophylla x micholitzii)

Cycas rev x Cycas multifrondis X Cycas panz x Cycas multifrondis - I did this cross a couple years ago and have a few seedlings in the ground and they are beginning to look interesting. They have been real slow so far. Time will tell what they become..

[Tracy]

The late flush on this Encephalartos is pretty small with only 3 leaves, but at least the weather has been cooperative thus far to allow it to emerge without much damage.  Still a few weeks to go though.  One of my favorite greens!

[JubaeaMan138]

Ferox I planted as a golf ball size with zero roots about 5 years ago. Love this plant super common but flushes atleast twice a year . Just got done flushing and now it’s flushing again. Flush is Much slower in these low 40 degree nights .

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by JubaeaMan138

[Tracy]

On 11/16/2023 at 11:31 AM, Tracy said:

 

Seems like it has been longer than about 3 1/2 weeks.  It is still slow progression due to the time of year, but almost there now.

[Gallop]

Dioon flush bringing in the new year.

[Gallop]

Ceratozamia chamberlainii seed cone.

[Gallop]

Ceratozamia chamberlainii x hildae.

[DippyD]

A coney January….. 

[Tracy]

13 hours ago, DippyD said:

A coney January….. 

It looks like it!  Interesting to see the syringe you use.  I have been using more of a needle type tip on a baster and actually inserting it into the cracks.  The challenge is that I sometimes get some of the flesh of the cone into the needle piece and have to use a paperclip to unplug the needle.  Your syringe works well on cones that are wide open, while avoiding the hiccup I sometimes encounter.

Now comes the waiting to harvest seeds and see which are sinkers and floaters.   

[DippyD]

55 minutes ago, Tracy said:

It looks like it!  Interesting to see the syringe you use.  I have been using more of a needle type tip on a baster and actually inserting it into the cracks.  The challenge is that I sometimes get some of the flesh of the cone into the needle piece and have to use a paperclip to unplug the needle.  Your syringe works well on cones that are wide open, while avoiding the hiccup I sometimes encounter.

Now comes the waiting to harvest seeds and see which are sinkers and floaters.   

Theres all sorts of tools to inject, this one is literally a medical syringe from a children’s Motrin box… it allows more but cant be tricky if the cone isn’t fully cracked open and receptive. I hope you got good fertilization because i need some of them!

[GeneAZ]

On 1/10/2024 at 10:41 AM, Tracy said:

It looks like it!  Interesting to see the syringe you use.  I have been using more of a needle type tip on a baster and actually inserting it into the cracks.  The challenge is that I sometimes get some of the flesh of the cone into the needle piece and have to use a paperclip to unplug the needle.  Your syringe works well on cones that are wide open, while avoiding the hiccup I sometimes encounter.

Now comes the waiting to harvest seeds and see which are sinkers and floaters.   

 

Try making a pilot hole first with a nail, then use your syringe technique.

[Tracy]

I missed that this Cycas thouarsii× cupida had coned.   It came out deformed and small, accompanied by a flush which was limited in leaves and deformed. I have seen leaves on my female Cycas thouarsii flush short with no real leaflets or globbed leaflets but not on a male combined with a deformed cone.

[tinman10101]

44 minutes ago, Tracy said:

I missed that this Cycas thouarsii× cupida had coned.   It came out deformed and small, accompanied by a flush which was limited in leaves and deformed. I have seen leaves on my female Cycas thouarsii flush short with no real leaflets or globbed leaflets but not on a male combined with a deformed cone.

 

 

 

thats a nice cross tracy and if memory serves me right, this was a greg holzman hybrid he released about 10 years ago.  i still have some but they dont grow as robust as yours.

[Tracy]

22 minutes ago, tinman10101 said:

this was a greg holzman hybrid he released about 10 years ago. 

Yes you are correct.  I got both of mine through George Sparkman.  Mine dates back to Autumn 2011, so 12 plus years ago now.  The female has been the more prolific pup producer of the two and is also the overall larger.

[Tracy]

Reminds me of Roxy Music's vocalist Bryan Ferry's solo album The Bride Stripped Bare, from 1978.  Yes, dating myself.

[Tracy]

Normally I get excited to see a new flush forming.  Mid-January flushes are an exception.  They are especially an exception when it comes to Encephalartos laurentiaunus, which has such long new leaves and leaflets to open during winter.  We will see how this flush performs given the normally damp windy conditions that are only aggravated by a slower pace for winter flushes to open.  I would have been much happier if this had waited until mid-March to start opening but I don't control that.

[Foggy Paul]

This is a great thread which I just discovered. Here's our Ceratozamia latifolia coning for the first time. This was obtained from Phil as a 5gal plant three and a half years ago and went straight into the ground. Question, will this species throw a flush while coning? TIA.

Edited March 3 by Foggy Paul

[Gallop]

On 3/3/2024 at 4:08 PM, Foggy Paul said:

This is a great thread which I just discovered. Here's our Ceratozamia latifolia coning for the first time. This was obtained from Phil as a 5gal plant three and a half years ago and went straight into the ground. Question, will this species throw a flush while coning? TIA.

My Ceratozamia often flush with a new cone present. 

Edited March 5 by Gallop

[Tracy]

The waiting game.  In years when I have not tried pollinating this Cycas tropophylla x micholitzii, it has developed tiny little black seeds that clearly had no potential.  I'm waiting to see if any of these seeds are viable in that I did pollinate it with pollen from a plant I acquired as Cycas debaoensis, but I'm learning is C. multifronidis or something else.  Feedback on typical time for the Cycas tropophylla x micholitzii to hold it's seeds from pollination is appreciated.  I don't recall when I pollinated her but am certain I have photos of the timing I can find.

[Gallop]

7 hours ago, Tracy said:

The waiting game.  In years when I have not tried pollinating this Cycas tropophylla x micholitzii, it has developed tiny little black seeds that clearly had no potential.  I'm waiting to see if any of these seeds are viable in that I did pollinate it with pollen from a plant I acquired as Cycas debaoensis, but I'm learning is C. multifronidis or something else.  Feedback on typical time for the Cycas tropophylla x micholitzii to hold it's seeds from pollination is appreciated.  I don't recall when I pollinated her but am certain I have photos of the timing I can find.

Hi Tracy, not sure if this helps any but..

I polinated C panz x C multifrondis in May with C multifrondis x (tropophylla x mitcholitzii). I harvested seed as they were falling to ground in late December. I put in storage and I’ve soaked seed for 24hr every 4 weeks. I remove the floaters during the process. I have been cutting a few open each month as I’m curios on how fast the embryos are developing. As of early March the embryos are definitely moving along, however are not ready to sow, I’m thinking another month or two. 

 

Edited March 7 by Gallop

[Scott W]

Here's my Panzhihuaensis x multifrondis seedlings from the cross I did last year.  Germinated in covered tubs on heat at 90F, currently about 50% germination, almost 100 seedlings.  Was told the embryos were not developed enough to plant but I went ahead and planted anyways on October 16, 2023 with first germination mid January 2024.

 

[Gallop]

On 3/3/2024 at 4:08 PM, Foggy Paul said:

This is a great thread which I just discovered. Here's our Ceratozamia latifolia coning for the first time. This was obtained from Phil as a 5gal plant three and a half years ago and went straight into the ground. Question, will this species throw a flush while coning? TIA.

This was noticed in the garden yesterday cone and leaves pushing at the same time on this ceratozamia. 

[Gallop]

On 11/24/2023 at 10:22 PM, Gallop said:

Hybrid F2 Cycas seed should be ready in a couple months. 
Cycas panz x Cycas multifrondis X Cycas multifrondis x  (tropophylla x micholitzii)

Cycas rev x Cycas multifrondis X Cycas panz x Cycas multifrondis - I did this cross a couple years ago and have a few seedlings in the ground and they are beginning to look interesting. They have been real slow so far. Time will tell what they become..

Update, looks like seed is ready.

[Tracy]

On 1/22/2024 at 2:31 PM, Tracy said:

Normally I get excited to see a new flush forming.  Mid-January flushes are an exception.  They are especially an exception when it comes to Encephalartos laurentiaunus, which has such long new leaves and leaflets to open during winter.  We will see how this flush performs given the normally damp windy conditions that are only aggravated by a slower pace for winter flushes to open.  I would have been much happier if this had waited until mid-March to start opening but I don't control that.

It is amazing how much energy gets consumed when this Encephalartos laurentianus flushes.  It is a huge amount of new biomass. 

[Tracy]

On 3/4/2024 at 10:50 PM, Gallop said:

My Ceratozamia often flush with a new cone present. 

It seems that Ceratozamia are very prone to flushing simultaneously with pushing out cones.  Two of mine also currently flushing and coning.

[Gallop]

On 3/7/2024 at 2:50 AM, Gallop said:

Hi Tracy, not sure if this helps any but..

I polinated C panz x C multifrondis in May with C multifrondis x (tropophylla x mitcholitzii). I harvested seed as they were falling to ground in late December. I put in storage and I’ve soaked seed for 24hr every 4 weeks. I remove the floaters during the process. I have been cutting a few open each month as I’m curios on how fast the embryos are developing. As of early March the embryos are definitely moving along, however are not ready to sow, I’m thinking another month or two. 

 

Laid seed down to sow last week, they are starting to sprout now. 

[Merlyn]

It's flushing and coning season here in the swamps of Florida!  In the backyard this Cycas Guizhouensis took a couple of years to get growing but is now coning:

This Encephalartos Ferox is doing a healthy 10+ leaf flush:

This beastly Encephalartos Hildebrandtii is about 8 feet tall, and I missed getting a good photo of the offset's bronze flush by 1 day...sigh...it's just a bit brownish-tan in the middle of the photo:

[Merlyn]

Also in the backyard, a big lime green flush from an Encephalartos Turneri is going nuts.  The lens flare from the sun was kind of in the way...

Another Encephalartos Ferox in the front yard is doing a healthy 10+ frond flush:

And this Encephalartos Gratus x Laurentianus is pushing a solid 5 leaf flush.  This was a big 2 leaf seedling 3 years ago and is rapidly becoming a nice spiky centerpiece for the front yard bed:

[Tracy]

This girl needed a haircut before the many pups below her flushed again.  Rather than have a tangle of emerging new leaves, I opted to trim off most of the leaves on the pups, despite the fact that they were still green and healthy.  This hybrid Cycad, Cycas thouarsii x cupida, is a vigorous grower in my climate so I have no fear of setting it back by over-trimming the pups once in a while.

[Tracy]

Since all the Cycas in the garden are busy with either flushes or cones, it was time to trim back the Cycas thouarsii along my side street again.  It took several hours to trim and clean the 5 up as they all have multiple pups and they end up pushing tangled leaves if I don't thin out the older leaves. 

My Encephalartos laurentiaunus, inside the wall has a new flush which is just becoming visible from the street now too.  The last flush is getting pretty beat up, but it does offer some wind protection  for now until those soft leaflets fully stretch and eventually harden off.

[Billeb]

Couple small plants pushing new growth. 
 

Encephalartos Arenarius X Horridus “Cleopatra” 

 

Encephalartos Munchii

 

Encephalartos Hybrid from Aloes in Wonderland. Any guesses would be great. 

-dale 

[Tracy]

This time it is two of a kind.  Mother  Father and pup both flushing on this blue Encephalartos arenarius hybrid.  I forgot this plant is male.

[Navarro]

zamia loddigesii

[tinman10101]

On 4/13/2024 at 2:14 PM, Tracy said:

This girl needed a haircut before the many pups below her flushed again.  Rather than have a tangle of emerging new leaves, I opted to trim off most of the leaves on the pups, despite the fact that they were still green and healthy.  This hybrid Cycad, Cycas thouarsii x cupida, is a vigorous grower in my climate so I have no fear of setting it back by over-trimming the pups once in a while.

 

one of greg holzman's beauties from back in the days. wow look at the size of those pups.  mine is still at 4" caudex lol.  it just reinforces what great microclimate you have tracy and of course, your meticulous care for your plants.  

cheers

tin

[Brian]

Zamia stevensonii with male cone and new flush.

[Brian]

Zamia stevensonii with female cones

 

[Brian]

A few zamia tuerckheimii flushing. These are on the north side of the house which this time of year gets full sun at noon. 
 

[Brian]

Recent flush on a zamia lindenii.

 

[Brian]

New flush on an Encephalartos “kanga”

 

[Brian]

I posted this one on another thread last week. 
Microcycas calocoma