Encephalartos Kisambo

[JubaeaMan138]

This beast is always the slowest when it comes to flushing . Hasn’t flushed in 2 years hoping to see something this year any ideas on how to encourage flushing ?

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, JubaeaMan138 said:

This beast is always the slowest when it comes to flushing . Hasn’t flushed in 2 years hoping to see something this year any ideas on how to encourage flushing ?

I have experienced similar growth with my Encephalartos kisambo with an occasional skipped year for flushes.   No apparent rhyme or reason.  I can only suggest patience. 

[NorCalWill]

What is your fertilizer regimen?

I'm not growing E. kisambo, but with my other cycads, I've had pretty good luck getting them all to flush every year. I think this may be related to how I fertilize them, at least I like to think that I'm doing this right. Every spring I mix a slow release fertilizer into the soil, currently using a 16-5-9 mix I got at a vineyard supply shop in town. On top of this, I water them with a 16-16-16 (Maxsea) liquid fertilizer twice a month from March to September.

I've also noticed that the temperature affects flushing as well. This year, things are slow because it's been so overcast and cool here so far. Things are about a month behind.

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, NorCalWill said:

This year, things are slow because it's been so overcast and cool here so far.

Yes, that will definitely delay flushes.  My larger one is in the corner of a planter with an Encephalartos transvenosus about 25' away in the same planter on the top west side of my Carlsbad yard.  The E transvenosus was smaller when planted than the Encephalartos kisambo, yet it has almost caught up in size due to more regular annual flushing.  Both have been in the ground since about 2009 and were somewhat established plants when planted (E tranvenosus about 3" caudex and E kisambo about 7" caudex).  My personal experience would lead me to say that the behaviour of you Encephalartos kisambo isn't out of the norm JubeaMan. 

[Merlyn]

@JubaeaMan138mine flushes every year as soon as it gets hot and rainy.  This year it was around the middle of May and a big 12 leaf flush.  Arguably this might be a Gratus, since the fronds & leaves are a bit twisty and they are very dark green.  But they are also 9-10' long and the leaves are about 1.1" wide x 7-9" long.  That's bigger than the species description of Gratus, but smaller than the typical Kisambo.  And the twistiness might be due to an Alfredii frond that was overhanging it from the right hand side during the flush. 

So anyway, the key to rapid growth and big flushes seems to be heat, rain, and full sun.  I don't know if they can take full sun in CA without our FL swampy humidity.