tree fern multiplication

I bought a tree fern a couple of years ago, at VAST expense. �£5 for a couple of inches of trunk and alot of leaf. It's had its feet in a pot and lives in the polyt oct through april. It's ever so healthy and looks ever so happy. EXCEPT......
it's gone mad, it looks like lots of little tree ferns growing round the base. Is this Normal, Am I discovering a little forest to pot on. Can they be seperated and potted on? Any ideas gratefully accepted.

 

Dicksonia Squarrosa does this compostee. I have about five in the one pot. They sucker quite readily.

 

can't help you Compostee, but LOVE the duck/ chick!!!!

 

Put this one on the left of your signature Compostee

 

Thanks for the info Bm, I take it i can leave them all together in the pot. I'm now messing about trying to put other seeking ducky in sig.

 

Yes all mine are in the same pot. They grow really quite slowly. Its larger cousin the antartica grows at a rate of 20 years to the first foot and the 12 years a foot there after. The Squarry is unprotected and has proved hardier than the antartica in my garden. Although I am freakishly protected. I will have to check but I think the squarry puts on a pretty good root ball, unlike the antarctica, so it may need repotting at some point.



If you do plant it out, this is prefered. Mine is thriving in filtered sunlight, loose well drained soil with lots of organic matter and plenty of water. If its really hot I spray twice daily !
:eek: :D

 

Well i tried your suggestion of placing ducky to the left and it all went wooooobbly. :eek: I got one under the other. So have deleted all for time being. I'm no good with tech stuff.

I shalln't be putting dicky out, up here. It might not survive. 990' up. Our winters are bit longer, by about a month extra, compared to sea level. But it seems very happy in it's pot. So if it's not broke don't fix it.

 

Hey BM, just had a thought, The fern tree is like me, getting wider but not taller. :D

 

GC weigh in for you then ! Lots of us tree ferns in there

 

You're both very lucky. I have an Antarctica which I bought at TRULY vast expense [�£35] and it seems to be slowly dying....I put it in the ground as it wasn't thriving, and protected it... :(

 

Morning Liz, have you been watering it through the winter ?

 

Hi BM, no I haven't, we've had so much rain in Wilts the garden is like a mud fest- perhaps it's too wet!

 

In my learning curve with tropicals, I lost a tree fern about 8 years ago. This was not to the cold but to drought in the trunk. I water them bi-weekly to keep the inside wet, and air them too. This is my biggest treefern today being aired at 7 feet.



This one is buried in tree fallout, but is moist but airated.



The bottom one could be described as a mouldy mess, but actually it is more true to its natural world cycle of leaf fall and crown incubation. As you can see the new fronds are pushing through. The key is moisture and an airated crown.

I hope yours is ok Liz. My 7 footer is approximately 104 years old ! :eek: :D

 

My little potted one in my polyt, is green, very leafy and i haven't seen the middle(s) yet.

By the way BM. I got my sig sorted out to a certain extent. But can't seem to add any further icons. so will leave as it is for now. I don't know how you got so many. clever cloggs. :D

 

I just paste one after another in the edit profile signatures ? but your right, I am a clever cloggs :D :D :D

I will try and find/take a picture of my squarry this week :D