What is wrong with this encepharlatos ferox

[happypalms]

My ferox was growing great i not sure what is killing it we had over the last couple of years a drought ending with almost a year of record breaking rainfall then no winte4 rain coming into spring my area went into drought again with only the last couple of weeks with around 100mm of rain so that’s the diagnosis for now as to what the problem may be but iam not sure the pup growth basal is growing fine which rules out soil fungus as a possibility at least I think so for now so iam asking the experts amongst these pages as to any sort of diagnosis it could be a combination of drought then to wet I have not fertilised it thanks in advance 

[Billeb]

22 hours ago, happypalms said:

My ferox was growing great i not sure what is killing it we had over the last couple of years a drought ending with almost a year of record breaking rainfall then no winte4 rain coming into spring my area went into drought again with only the last couple of weeks with around 100mm of rain so that’s the diagnosis for now as to what the problem may be but iam not sure the pup growth basal is growing fine which rules out soil fungus as a possibility at least I think so for now so iam asking the experts amongst these pages as to any sort of diagnosis it could be a combination of drought then to wet I have not fertilised it thanks in advance 

Richard, what did the last flush look like? Was it at a similar time as previous years? A lot of times you can tell if a cycad is happy just by the last flush.
 

If the fronds come out all weird shaped, twisted and deformed it could also be a mite or insect issue that needs a treatment. 
 

I think you might be onto something stating the amount of water it has received. I quite literally water my cycads “when I remember” and we don’t get a lot of rain in my area. 
 

It actually looks like the leaf litter around it could be keeping the moisture in also. The whole are looks damp. 
 

-dale 

[happypalms]

3 hours ago, Billeb said:

Richard, what did the last flush look like? Was it at a similar time as previous years? A lot of times you can tell if a cycad is happy just by the last flush.
 

If the fronds come out all weird shaped, twisted and deformed it could also be a mite or insect issue that needs a treatment. 
 

I think you might be onto something stating the amount of water it has received. I quite literally water my cycads “when I remember” and we don’t get a lot of rain in my area. 
 

It actually looks like the leaf litter around it could be keeping the moisture in also. The whole are looks damp. 
 

-dale 

Thanks billeb there is a lot of leaf litter I will remove it the last flush was quite fine no abnormal growth it is in well draining sand so I think the drought conditions and then rains has taken it’s toll and thanks for your advice 

[Merlyn]

I'd agree with removing the leaf litter, it's impossible to see if the crown looks normal or has some kind of rot going on.  I have a similarly-sized Ferox that has been coning the past 2 years and refuses to flush leaves.  Frost has killed off more than half of the fronds over the past 2 years.  It looks horrible, but seems to be growing okay despite the lack of fronds.  I fertilize my cycads with my regular palm fertilizer 3x per year.  My other several large Ferox are flushing 2x or 3x per year...

[happypalms]

6 hours ago, Merlyn said:

I'd agree with removing the leaf litter, it's impossible to see if the crown looks normal or has some kind of rot going on.  I have a similarly-sized Ferox that has been coning the past 2 years and refuses to flush leaves.  Frost has killed off more than half of the fronds over the past 2 years.  It looks horrible, but seems to be growing okay despite the lack of fronds.  I fertilize my cycads with my regular palm fertilizer 3x per year.  My other several large Ferox are flushing 2x or 3x per year...

Thanks Merlyn you’re one sort of looks like similar condition I shall remove the leaf litter and see if a bit more air movement it around helps the situation