As the weather cooled it still made steady but slower
growth taking nearly a fortnight to double again, but the return
of higher temperatures in mid August saw the fronds shoot up to
about 40cm/I 6" and spread and expand to about half their final
width in a single week. The highest temperature I recorded during
this rapid growth was 80ûF/27ûC, a good deal cooler than say Leeds
or London, seemingly proving great heat would be unnecessary, although
areas of higher summer temperature would probably achieve faster
results.
A word of warning to those contemplating growing
the cycad which is not usually imparted or thought of: watch the
new growth carefully as it is very soft indeed, very delicate and
very easily damaged in the early stages of growth. I came out one
morning to do the usual checks to find the tips of the spire pecked
by birds. It was about eight inches high when this happened and
made a perfect perch for our feathered friends, luckily the damage
was only slight, about 1/4" off three tips but with going away
for a week I was worried about further damage so I quickly made
a cage out of chicken wire to go over the crown. On my return there
was no further damage and the leaves had grown and expanded past
this vulnerable stage.
Also keep a look out at night for earwigs amongst
the parting spears. These pests easily show up under torchlight,
the new leaves appear to he unaffected by spraying them with correctly
mixed doses of insecticide. I have found the occasional slug climbing
up the stem. The last week of August was unsettled with very heavy
showers and occasional sunshine with temperatures averaging about
10ûC and although September started cool, overall the month was
ideal for the growth of the cycad with several bursts of warm sunshine
and much needed very heavy rain, so heavy in fact that I was concerned
that the unhardened new growth would he damaged but it was not a
problem.
Now into mid October the weather remained mild and
the new leaves seem to have turned much harder. Quite suddenly they
are very dark green above and a pale glaucous green below, in spite
of being battered by strong north-westerly winds only slight damage
to one or two of the leaflet tips occurred where they crashed together.
With the new leaves hardened and matured it will
go into its third winter, I will of course give these new growths
any protection necessary. Hopefully it won't be anywhere near as
bad as last winter and this protection will be minimal and just
for our darkest months. If all goes well as previous experience
has shown I should have the pleasure of seeing the cycad become
more and more established and maybe increasing in hardiness as its
potentially vast root system spreads and hopefully becomes more
accustomed to harsher conditions.
Cycad in Suburbia
