Growing Cycads in SouthWest Florida - How to start?

[HorsesnPalms]

I had a revoluta on a propery I rented once and you couldn't kill that thing. It was in northern Florida and took the cold like a champ. I am now in Southwest Florida and have been seeing the prices on some of the rarer cycads and it sparked my interest in starting to "try" growing some. Then retire early! HA!

So how hard are they to care for? I don't want to fork our hundreds of dollars for something that I could kill. So where should I start? I found some nicely priced, Encephalartos horridus "Dwarf Form" seedlings and a Encephalartos middleburgensis along with a encephalartos nubimontanus seedlings. Is that a good place to start? Which has the fastest growth rate? Any tips to make sure I don't show them an early death?

Any other types of cycad that you recommend?

I appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks in advanced

[The Silent Seed]

I have a bunch of Enc. seedlings with no tags for cheap - if you want to try an experiment to get started.

I would suggest starting with something like that to get a feel for growing these things, before spending much money.

I also believe there are some Cycas that are much hardier than other types of Cycads. C. panzihuaensis, for example.

Edited September 7, 2013 by santoury

[waykoolplantz]

Contact Chip Jones or Dale Holton....two of the more serious cycad growers. Both great guys can guide you and get you going in the right direction.

[palmsnbananas]

1. Buy a super blue cycad!

2. Plant outside!

3. Watch it turn greener

4. Temper your expectations

5. Continue

Edited September 7, 2013 by palmsnbananas

[cfkingfish]

Where in SW Florida are you? I grow rare cycads, mostly from seed and am in Venice. Feel free to pm me.

Christian

[HorsesnPalms]

Thank you for the responses, Christian I sent you a PM. Jude I am sending you one now.

  On 9/7/2013 at 9:49 PM, palmsnbananas said:

1. Buy a super blue cycad!

2. Plant outside!

3. Watch it turn greener

4. Temper your expectations

5. Continue

That is my kind of luck! LOL :-) You could paint it blue???? Natural paint of course lol

[waykoolplantz]

Water it with blue water

[virtualpalm]

I certainly would not recommend starting with any of the blue Encephalartos species, as they can be tricky here in south Florida. You could try E. hildebrandtii, E. gratus, or E. ferox. Those you can get fairly inexpensively as established plants and wouldn't have to start with seeds or seedlings. I would also recommend Ceratozamia robusta, Cz. latifolia, Cz. hildae, Dioon edule, D. mejiae, D. spinulosum, Zamia floridana (which is our native coontie), Z. loddigesii, Z. vazquezii, and Z. furfuracea, all of which are easy to grow and fairly inexpensive here in south Florida. I would encourage you not to try growing any species of Cycas, even C. revoluta, because of the Cycad Aulacaspis Scale.

The key to growing cycads is excellent drainage. If you have well-draining soil, you should be OK with starting with some of these species. If you have drainage problems, you may still be able to grow cycads in raised beds of well-draining soil.

[yachtingone]

What Jody said plus I know some Florida growers keep their prized cycads in containers with very drainy potting mix.

[virtualpalm]

Randy, after many years of trial and error, I have finally learned how to grow the blue Enceph species both in containers and in the ground here in south Florida. As with most places, cycads in general grow faster in the ground here than they do in containers (for the most part). I don't think any of the rarer or hard to grow species are ones to learn on.

[palmsnbananas]

How how how

[monkeyranch]

Just curious, how do lepidozamia and macrozamia perform in Florida? Does the Cycad Aulacaspis Scale attack them or do they have any other problems?

[virtualpalm]

CAS is not a problem for either of these genera. However, in this part of Florida most macrozamias and L. peroffskyana do not grow well in our high pH soil. On your coast, you may be able to grow them well. Surprisingly, L. hopei does quite well here.

[Kailua_Krish]

I've had good luck with L. Peroffskyana but my soil is acidic in central fl.