Dave_techie: Your cycad question.

Dave you asked the question below in another thread. It is a good question but not for that thread.

Big cycads where you live (Reno?) might be a problem.

Cycads are not cold hardy. They do not like frost.

Now a smaller cycad like the Zamia furfuracea might do fine as long as it was in a heated greenhouse in the winter.

However your state is an x factor. That means corporations and Universities are your friends.

In Las Vegas the Casinos are working with the University of Nevada and have been for years.

There are plants growing outside of Casinos in Las Vegas, that according to any conventional wisdom cannot grow there.

How do they do it? They have massive heating coils buried under the ground. If the ground temperature gets too cold the heating coils kick on. Then they arrange the night lighting to warm the leaves and flowers. Everything is monitored and controlled by computers.

If you are into cycads the University of Nevada has some wonderful exhibits of cycads and other tropical plants.

But with a heated greenhouse you definetly have options.

I do export cycad seed of all over the world.

However I cannot export live plants do to CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) law.

Well I could but I am not dancing through all the hoops to get the live plant permit.

But the seeds are relatively easy to get a permit for.

Love me some cycads.

 

Overall species diversity peaks at 17˚ 15"N and 28˚ 12"S, with a minor peak at the equator. There is therefore not a latitudinal diversity gradient towards the equator but towards the tropics. However, the peak in the northern tropics is largely due to Cycas in Asia and Zamia in the New World, whereas the peak in the southern tropics is due to Cycas again, and also to the diverse genus Encephalartos in southern and central Africa and Macrozamia in Australia. Thus the distribution pattern of cycad species with latitude appears to be an artifact of the geographical isolation of cycad genera, and is dependent on the remaining species in each genus that did not follow the extinction pattern of their ancestors. Cycas is the only genus that has a broad geographical range and can thus be used to infer that cycads tend to live in the upper and lower tropics. This is probably because these areas have a drier climate with relatively cool winters; while cycads require some rainfall, they appear to be partly xerophytic. Potted specimens are found and thrive in global locations such as Canada, Russia, Finland, Chile.

 

You know I was thinking the Dioon edule might do okay in the Reno area.

It is somewhat cold hardy and as a landscape item, once it is established, it can tolerate temperatures down to 10 F for several days.

I think I would try that. Do it in a container and then bring it in when it gets cold.

 

I've seen those in Florida I think

 

Right now I'm looking at good sized indoor plants, and I am looking at a greenhouse

but REALLY what I want is to get a big fucker started now (I know some of them take FOREVER to grow) as an indoor plant, and when I move to arizona\texas\socal (all of the aerospace jobs are in the warm south, except boeing, and I REALLY don't want to work for boeing)

I'll be able to transplant it into more appropriate surroundings.

More advice is definitely appreciated

I too love cycads.

 

Well the Dioon edule would definitely work. It is one of the easier cycads to grow from seeds.

Here is a photo of one.

I am sure there are numerous other options. The problem is there is 2 classes cycad as far as CITES is concerned.

What that basically means is I cannot under almost any circumstances export class A cycads.

Now the exact wording may be different but I am not looking up no laws right now.

I grow them but the seeds are never put into inventory. No real money in cycads. More of a fun thing.

If you are going to grow them from seed, you need to decide how many larger plants you want.

 

I'm happy to start from seed, Tell me what to order, Tell me where, I just, fucking love cycads.

 

Finally something we agree on Dave! I love Cycads too!