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George
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 8:08 am Posts: 294 Location: Hangzhou, East China
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Mexican tree fern
Here is my first propagation of this mexican tree fern--Alsophila mexicana(should be same as A.firma?). The spore was contributed by Steve, flying accross the Eurasian continent. The progation started last mid-October. during the harsh middle winter, I put inside a plastic semi-trasparent container with a heating mat where it spend the coldest days. The temperature is maintained at 15-25C, although in some sunny winter afternoon, occassionallt roaring to 35C(When that happened, shut the heating mat immediately like put off fire!). As the typical east Asian harsh winther is over, I put it out on the balcony, the temperature is over 5C at night, if less, I put inside like rescue. Till now. Here it is from the start, middle, and present.
Fern propagation is a patience consuming project, during the course, this mexican is the only survival of the first batches among which the Cibotium barometz, Sphaeropteris lepifera and Alsophila gigantea all surrender to mold.
It's a long way to go, isn't?
_________________ George
9a 600km northwest of Diaoyu Island
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Sun May 05, 2013 2:08 pm |
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Tom Velardi
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:20 pm Posts: 4337 Location: Kyushu, Southern Japan (33.607N latitude)
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Re: Mexican tree fern
You've got some babies coming based on that last shot - now you just have to be patient and grow them on for another 5+ years to see something that resembles a tree fern.
I wonder about folks remarking they lose plants to mold - it has never been a problem for me. I do have problems with some species stalling out at the "lawn phase" though - Cyathea smithii and australis being the stand-outs. Time consuming work? You better believe it!
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Sun May 05, 2013 11:02 pm |
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davidmdzn7
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:01 pm Posts: 412 Location: Maryland, USA
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Re: Mexican tree fern
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Mon May 06, 2013 1:07 am |
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George
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 8:08 am Posts: 294 Location: Hangzhou, East China
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Re: Mexican tree fern
the green hand is comming out just recently as the temperature climbs high, we are turning to the early summer, 30C is soon on the way. Tom, what is your "lawn phase"?
_________________ George
9a 600km northwest of Diaoyu Island
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Mon May 06, 2013 5:26 am |
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Tom Velardi
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:20 pm Posts: 4337 Location: Kyushu, Southern Japan (33.607N latitude)
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Re: Mexican tree fern
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Mon May 06, 2013 12:02 pm |
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George
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 8:08 am Posts: 294 Location: Hangzhou, East China
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Re: Mexican tree fern
It seems not in my case like that, maybe the viability of the spore is playing tricks. In my failure case(barometz, lepifera ), none of the lawn case ever appears, and my spore is very fresh. In my early practices, the spore from ebay Austrilia never germinated at all, I quite doubt about there is true spore in that sachet. Dicksonia fibrosa, medulllaris, robertsiana all ended up with nothing.
_________________ George
9a 600km northwest of Diaoyu Island
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Mon May 06, 2013 2:58 pm |
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Eduard O
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:46 pm Posts: 1196 Location: Maastricht Netherlands
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Re: Mexican tree fern
Hi George, I book the best results when I'm sowing in the autumn, then i have the small ferns in the spring and then they are converted to the propagator, they are then potted in p.10 in June /July or if they are not large enough a year later, that depends if it is a hot spring, than this stops the growth or if it is too cold, best temp. is a stabile 20 º C. Forever keep them moist, every week at a specific time spraying! You do have a good harvest Gr. Ed.
_________________ 2021 min. -09.1ºC --- max. 33.2ºC 2022 min. -09.0ºC --- max. 39.7ºC
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Mon May 06, 2013 3:57 pm |
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George
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 8:08 am Posts: 294 Location: Hangzhou, East China
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Re: Mexican tree fern
Thanks Eduard, I will record it's growth and share it to this forum. By no means i can surpass your growing pace. The coming challege is the summer, I have no idea if they can sit through 35C+ will frequent 30days more.
_________________ George
9a 600km northwest of Diaoyu Island
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Tue May 07, 2013 1:28 pm |
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Tom Velardi
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:20 pm Posts: 4337 Location: Kyushu, Southern Japan (33.607N latitude)
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Re: Mexican tree fern
Hey George, without a doubt, fresh spore is a must! Still, with some species I get great germination, but no sporlings. I used to get great spore off my C. australis and sow it immediately. The lawn grew and then just sat there doing nothing!
Like you, my climate is hard on little tree ferns, making the transition from small sporling size to an outdoor growing young plant very difficult. Mortality is high and the plants are very slow to grow. The reason is simple - too high temperatures.
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Tue May 07, 2013 9:50 pm |
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Epiphyte
Joined: Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:41 pm Posts: 134 Location: Glendale, CA, USA
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Re: Mexican tree fern
George, I'm thinking you sowed your spore way too thickly. I sometimes do the same thing. I would recommend dividing the gametophytes up among 4 to 7 pots of that same size. Otherwise, you're going to end up with weak and spindly sporophytes. In general, it's really important to avoid having all your eggs in one basket.
_________________ Carlos -
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Wed May 08, 2013 6:47 pm |
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Eduard O
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:46 pm Posts: 1196 Location: Maastricht Netherlands
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Re: Mexican tree fern
Is sown close to each other, does not matter in fact, you will soon take the largest first out and put it in the cultvator, you can keep this seed medium a year and longer and continue to reap. Gr. Ed.
_________________ 2021 min. -09.1ºC --- max. 33.2ºC 2022 min. -09.0ºC --- max. 39.7ºC
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Wed May 08, 2013 7:30 pm |
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George
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 8:08 am Posts: 294 Location: Hangzhou, East China
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Re: Mexican tree fern
Yes, my spore is too thick, I have no better way to control the density of the spore, I used a cotton bud to dip the spore and tap to sow. This will indeed to slow down the development, but i have no choice, there are too small to divide at present. Eduard, when do you think to pick out the indivisual would be appropriate? At present I don'y water them at all, because the humidity inside the polybag.
_________________ George
9a 600km northwest of Diaoyu Island
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Thu May 09, 2013 4:49 am |
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Eduard O
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:46 pm Posts: 1196 Location: Maastricht Netherlands
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Re: Mexican tree fern
Hi, for fertilization is spraying necessary, I do a weekly thin layer of boiled water [cool], the excess soil water let drain by keeping the tray diagonally, I take the plants out if they have at least 3 leaves, I take only the largest plants and push the little ones gently back into place, Then I spray everything good wet and I let it drain well again. The culture you reduseren this way, I still plant young plants in the cultivotor sown in 2010, condition is that it should not be too hot! Gr. Ed.
_________________ 2021 min. -09.1ºC --- max. 33.2ºC 2022 min. -09.0ºC --- max. 39.7ºC
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Thu May 09, 2013 8:58 am |
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George
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 8:08 am Posts: 294 Location: Hangzhou, East China
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Re: Mexican tree fern
Thanks for sharing your story, Eduard. I will take it. Week 30, just spraying water a moment ago. You can see more fern is coming out. Most of them are coming from the pot edge, less crowded of course .
_________________ George
9a 600km northwest of Diaoyu Island
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Fri May 10, 2013 2:45 pm |
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George
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 8:08 am Posts: 294 Location: Hangzhou, East China
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Re: Mexican tree fern
Now we come to this week of the fern, a ture frond is developped, with a visible hair.I'm not sure whther this is the frond of the tree fern, The only one in the pot although the one next to it is apparently showing its fist to fight.
_________________ George
9a 600km northwest of Diaoyu Island
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Sat May 18, 2013 2:14 am |
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