feeding tree ferns ?
Jeremy
I am a vegetable and tomato grower who has taken to more exotic gardening.
I am therefore a bit of a fertiliser freak and so far, all the feeding my
Dicksonia Antarctica has had is from the decaying straw left in the crown
.... I wondered if I could get more fronds with appropriate feeding !
The proprietor of the Riverside Garden Centre in Bristol said he'd heard of
banana skins being used .....
I wondered if I ought to dry them first .
any ideas ?
thanks...
Jeremy
Dave Poole
>I am a vegetable and tomato grower who has taken to more exotic gardening.
Nowt wrong with that - exotics tend to be rather fond of fertiliser.
Some of them require stupendous amounts.
>I am therefore a bit of a fertiliser freak and so far, all the feeding my
>Dicksonia Antarctica has had is from the decaying straw left in the crown
>.... I wondered if I could get more fronds with appropriate feeding !
Indeed you can persuade them to grow more rapidly and produce more
flushes of leaves if you feed *established* plants. They must have a
good root system and therefore should have been growing in the ground
or pots for at least 12 months. Tree ferns, whether they are the most
commonly seen Dicksonia antarctica, other species of Dicksonia
(fibrosa, squarrosa) or the less frequently encountered Cyatheas, all
benefit from additional feeds that are high in nitrogen.
One of the most effective is 'chicken poo soup' made from a large
handful of pelleted poultry manure dissolved in 2 gallons of tepid
water. This is allowed to stand for 20-30 minutes in order to enable
the pellets to break down properly. Stir the mixture well and drench
both the roots and trunk with it. Repeat every 14 - 21 days during
summer. If you cannot stand the resultant, albeit very short lived
pong, you could use a seaweed based, proprietary feed, but you need to
buy one that is proportionately high in nitrogen.
>The proprietor of the Riverside Garden Centre in Bristol said he'd heard of
>banana skins being used .....
Banana skins have to be composted to be effective as fertiliser and
break down to release fairly high levels of potash - fine for fruit
and veg, but of considerably less value to tree ferns.
Do bear in mind that even when growing at its fastest, Dicksonia
antarctica is a slow growing fern making little more than 6" of
additional trunk per year. The leaves are produced in flushes of up
to 8 - 10 fronds which appear together, developing quickly once they
start growing, followed by a long period of inactivity. In well
tended plants which are fed properly, there may be 2 or 3 flushes
produced in a single season, Poorly fed plants produce just a single
flush of leaves in a season and in some cases, only manage to bear 4
to 6 fronds per year.
HTH>
David Poole
TORQUAY UK
(Kick the moggie before replying)
Pete The Gardener
"Jeremy" <jerem...@uwe.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:GErM9...@bath.ac.uk...
The Banana skin thing involves putting banana skins in the crown of the
tree fern, I haven't tried it, but have talked to a couple of people who
reckon it works. We spray ours with a dilute liquid fertilizer every few
weeks, they seem to do OK on this.
--
Pete The Gardener
A room without books is like a body without a soul
pete_the...@hotmail.com
Edward Sparkes
from "Jeremy" <jerem...@uwe.ac.uk> contains these words:
> Dear Urglers,
> I am a vegetable and tomato grower who has taken to more exotic gardening.
> I am therefore a bit of a fertiliser freak and so far, all the feeding my
> Dicksonia Antarctica has had is from the decaying straw left in the crown
> .... I wondered if I could get more fronds with appropriate feeding !
D.antartica would seem to like Bristol. We had to give ours away, it grew
too big.
Just try to think like a fern Jeremy. Just throw it the odd mouse or dead
bird.
We found it easier to wet the trunk, sometimes adding a morsel of fertiliser!
Organic, of course. ;)
Edward.
Jeremy
Dave Poole wrote in message ...
Thank you Mr. Poole sir - I like the sound of "several flushes" of fronds !
While I have your attention, I've just planted some Cocolasia Esculenta
(taro / eddoes) yams (very late, I know) - can I expect a decent quantity
of foliage this year ?
also , thanks for confirming my need for a golden hop - 14 inch leaves
indeed !
Jeremy,
cormaic
jim.w...@NOSPAM.cyberdude.com (Jim Warham) enriched all our lives
with these words......:
>Jim!
>North London, England, UK
>To Email, remove nospam from my email address
Jim, your spam trap is defeating my emails to you. They keep
getting bounced back to me. Any suggestions?
--
cormaic Garden - www.tmac.clara.co.uk/garden/
Culcheth Paving - www.tmac.clara.co.uk/paving/
Cheshire URG faq/webring - www.tmac.clara.co.uk/urgring/
(allegedly)
cormaic CAN BE FOUND AT borlochshall.co.uk