Cycad cones and flushes

[Urban Rainforest]

29 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Encephalartos lehmannii, last season's cone falling apart and this season's flush on one of its other caudices.

Tracy those are some great looking plants! What pollen did you hit her with?

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, Urban Rainforest said:

Tracy those are some great looking plants! What pollen did you hit her with?

Nothing this round,as I was really busy when it was hitting the window for receptivity.   I used pollen from my trispinosis the prior year. When I hsd 2 vones.  Braden was germinating those seeds and I don't recall if any popped.  

These are the triplets we are waiting to mature now, which were pollinated last January.   Encephalartos horridus × woodii female cones.

[Urban Rainforest]

9 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Nothing this round,as I was really busy when it was hitting the window for receptivity.   I used pollen from my trispinosis the prior year. When I hsd 2 vones.  Braden was germinating those seeds and I don't recall if any popped.  

These are the triplets we are waiting to mature now, which were pollinated last January.   Encephalartos horridus × woodii female cones.

Those should turnout really nice! Im seeing quite a bit of blue in your Horwood. Most I see are green. You got some nice big plants!

[GeneAZ]

On 6/29/2025 at 9:25 PM, Urban Rainforest said:

This is my favorite Cycad I have Encephalartos Latifrons Trappes valley! Nice flush from last year. Its bout to flush again. I bought it as a 1 leaf seedling and it now has an 11” caudex! It has not been slow and has flushed every year for me.

They are the best of all💥

[Billeb]

Here’s my Dioon Edule “Queretaro Blue” flushing a set. Nothing last year so I’m excited. Definite difference between this variety new leaf color and the standard Edule. 
 

-dale 

[Billeb]

Here’s my Dioon Oaxacensis (formerly “El Cameron”) finally flushing a full set. This plant is a variety of Merolae but leaflet insertion is different. Excited about this guy too. 
 

-dale 

 

[Urban Rainforest]

That queretaro blue Dioon is one I had not heard of before. Looks amazing! I had a big Merolae at my last house. I should have dug it when I moved!

[Billeb]

2 hours ago, Urban Rainforest said:

That queretaro blue Dioon is one I had not heard of before. Looks amazing! I had a big Merolae at my last house. I should have dug it when I moved!

Yeah dude, it’s like a blue Edule. Super blue as the leafs come out and the typical sunscreen is on. Because dioon don’t flush every year typically, by the time it does flush all the sunscreen has worn off and it appears green. Hopefully it starts flushing every year and it will stay blue year round. 
 

It’s a cool plant and I don’t know many people who have it in their gardens so that’s a plus too  

-dale 

[Tracy]

Summertime hair cut for this Encephalartos arenarius × .  It has so many pups both on its main caudex and base, that entanglement problems arise when it flushes if I don’t trim some of the older flushes off.  

[Urban Rainforest]

Wow! That Arenarius is a pupping machine! I can relate to the entanglement as I have a dwarf Horridus that basically turns into a tumbleweed. Ive been using a method I got off Tom Broomes Cycad Jungle website for years now where I give all my Cycads a spring haircut in April trimming off anywhere from a few leaves to an entire row. It stimulates more and bigger flushes! Sometimes Cycads can get lazy and skip a year or two. Looking good Tracy👍

[Tracy]

This is the result of pollinating an Encephalartos horridus × woodii cones with pollen from an Encephalartos horridus × woodii.   I have another from the same seed batch that looks quite different.   Probably not a surprise when crossing a hybrid with another hybrid even if it is the same cross.

[GeneAZ]

E. arenarius a blue form.  This one ends up quite velvety and kind of in the middle for blueness.  Also a pup machine!

[GeneAZ]

There were 7 of these tarantula wasps on this one latifrons juvenile. It had just put out this nice flush which, apparently, they found irresistible.   There were 3 other latifrons juveniles within two feet of this plant, but only this one was suitable for their intentions 🤔

[Billeb]

1 hour ago, Tracy said:

This is the result of pollinating an Encephalartos horridus × woodii cones with pollen from an Encephalartos horridus × woodii.   I have another from the same seed batch that looks quite different.   Probably not a surprise when crossing a hybrid with another hybrid even if it is the same cross.

I see a lot of Woodii @Tracy . Sure to be a stunner in 5yrs+. 
 

-dale 

[GeneAZ]

This is also latifrons just showing that not all latifrons are curly with big spines.  This was created at Kirstenbosch 30 years ago from their many, many huge latifrons specimens.  I got it as a two-inch seedling.   Glad I kept it to mature like this!

[GeneAZ]

I also have some triple cone action on this E. Eugene-maraise of my best form.  Never got more than one cone on an Encephalartos before!

[GeneAZ]

Couple of Pachypodium brevicaule plants I've been growing for about 12 years now.  These buttery blooms come before the leaves early each spring.

[Urban Rainforest]

Gene,  you have some amazing plants! How big is the caudex on your biggest Latifrons? Liking the Pachypodium as well!

[GeneAZ]

24 minutes ago, Urban Rainforest said:

Gene,  you have some amazing plants! How big is the caudex on your biggest Latifrons? Liking the Pachypodium as well!

My largest latifrons by caudex size (which is the plant) is 20" tall by 12" wide,  Trappes Valley,  from Bruce Bursey in 1979.  I bought it from a friend who imported the unrooted tuber at that time and grew it under greenhouse culture in a container until about 2000 when I asked to purchase it to help his financial difficulties. 

In containers, the seedlings will out-perform collected plants even of this species.

[Urban Rainforest]

21 minutes ago, GeneAZ said:

My largest latifrons by caudex size (which is the plant) is 20" tall by 12" wide,  Trappes Valley,  from Bruce Bursey in 1979.  I bought it from a friend who imported the unrooted tuber at that time and grew it under greenhouse culture in a container until about 2000 when I asked to purchase it to help his financial difficulties. 

In containers, the seedlings will out-perform collected plants even of this species.

Wow! Thing is a monster! Has it coned yet? Male or female?

[GeneAZ]

2 hours ago, Urban Rainforest said:

Wow! Thing is a monster! Has it coned yet? Male or female?

No cone yet.

[Tracy]

First cones to emerge on an Encephalartos nubimontanus that I acquired as a two leaf seedling.  My initial inclination is to guess these are male, based on similar characteristics to my Encephalartos cupidus which has produced male cones in the past.  I could still be wrong and should wait to see if they elongate as they grow (male) or if they become more barrel shaped (female).  I convinced myself that the first cones that pushed on an Encephalartos eugene-maraisii were male until they became more plump a couple of years ago.  So I will hedge my bet on these cones today.

[Tracy]

17 hours ago, GeneAZ said:

There were 7 of these tarantula wasps on this one latifrons juvenile. It had just put out this nice flush which, apparently, they found irresistible.   There were 3 other latifrons juveniles within two feet of this plant, but only this one was suitable for their intentions 🤔

Gene, hopefully they were on this plant just to hang out.  I can't help thinking about the wasp that was introduced about 3 decades ago to fight the recently arrived white fly.  It doesn't appear that these wasps were going after anything by the appearance of the leaflets. 

[N8ALLRIGHT]

My "Queretero blue" edule is flushing and it looks nice in the morning sun, especially backlit!

[Tracy]

A few simultaneous flushes occurring on the main caudex and pups of this Encephalartos inopinus.   The new leaves on a flush appear to be a pale silver green before they harden off , especially on the abaxial side.

[Urban Rainforest]

Tracy, your Inopinus looks Epic! Thats one I dont have yet. That thing has pups on pups! 

[Urban Rainforest]

Encephalartos Princeps new flush starting to harden off and turn blue.

[Merlyn]

@Tracy that's a neat one, I hadn't looked at Inopinus before!  It looks a bit similar to Villosus and Umbeluziensis.  

[Tracy]

On 7/7/2025 at 6:30 PM, Merlyn said:

@Tracy that's a neat one, I hadn't looked at Inopinus before!  It looks a bit similar to Villosus and Umbeluziensis.  

Encephalartos inopinus has leaflets which are at an obtuse angle off the rachis.  Some sections of leaflets may come off in a plane but the obtuse angle becomes more apparent in the upper portions of leaves.  Mine also seems to have a good deal of twist to the leaves.

[Tracy]

After she pushed her first cones last year,  I am getting a nice flush this summer on this Encephalartos arenarius 

[Gallop]

[Navarro]

Zamia sp. Viñales?