Just found these and the seeds are so cool. Read in the PlantFiles about the seed's toxicity for dogs. But our sago 'palms' have been decimated by the recurring scale and I have only one sago remaining. County Cooperative is recommending the cardboard palm as a replacement.
Anyone grown these from the seeds? And how to sow?
Here's a closeup of the seeds.
I haven't grown one from seed, but a very small plant. It grew slow for me, but is now about 8" tall x 6' wide. It puts out side shoots and that what makes it almost a bush. So give it some room.
Hap
Edit.....yes, actually I have grown one from seed, or at least God did. It somehow got into a neighboring bed and planted itself. Now how long it took to germinate, I don't know.....I just saw the plant starting one day...
This message was edited Dec 16, 2005 4:21 PM
Hey, soozer.
I can't quite tell from the photo, but your plant looks more like our Florida native plant Coontie (Zamia floridana) than the closely related plant Zamia furfuracea (Cardboard Palm). The Cardboard Palm has broader and flatter leaves than the Coontie.
If it is a coontie, I've grown them successfully from seeds that my neighbor gave me from her plants. I just buried the seeds about 4 inches deep, with the orange "fruit" intact, and forgot about them. I now have about 12 plants sprouted up in the spots where I buried the seeds. As noted above, they are very slow to grow, at least in the early formative stage. They stay at about the one or two leaf stage for a few years in my yard!
If it is a cardboard palm you have, I would love to have some of the seeds if you have any to share! I've been coveting a cardboard palm and it has been at the top of my plant wish list for quite a while, but I haven't yet been overcome by the urge to plop down $20 or more for a good sized one at the nurseries. I imagine the cardboard palms would grow just about the same way from seeds as did my coonties.
Jeremy
This message was edited Dec 17, 2005 12:06 AM
Looks more like a coontie to me also.
Thanks, guys, for thinking it was other than a cardboard. When I looked at it I thought that I didn't have a cardboard palm because my leaves are wider and a darker green. But then I blamed it being a pic. LOL
Hap
Thanks for the tip. Looked up Coontie Palm in PlantFiles and yes! The handful of seeds I harvested from one of these Coonties at the Public Library will now get buried several inches and will see when they come up. Great 'found' seeds! Really like the looks of this and the Cardboard Palm plant. These seeds are so cool...like reddish plastic puzzle pieces as they separate from that seed stalk...great shapes.
The coontie is a host plant (or so I've read) for one of our south Florida butterflies (I can't recall which one), so you will not only be growing an attractive, native plant, but also (if you are in the butterfly's range), also be providing habitat needs for the butterfly!
Jeremy
I didn't know that about the Coontie Palm, Jeremy. Looking forward to a good Coontie crop.
:)
I decided to do a Google search for my own edification in regard to the relationship between the S. E. Florida butterfly (turns out to be named the Coontie Hairstreak - Eumaeus atala) and the coontie plant. Here is a very interesting article about the butterfly:
http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/bfly/atala_hairstreak.htm
Watch for orange caterpillars that eat the coontie leaves in order to be distasteful to predators.
I noticed that the above article referenced the Florida coontie as Zamia pumila -- maybe that was a previous botanical name instead of the Zamia floridana in our DG Plant Files?
Happy coontie growing and butterfly nursing!
Jeremy
The coontie is host for the Atala butterfly. Your cycad is indeed a coontie. Coonties are very expensive and difficult to find down here. Cardboard palms on the other hand are common down here are almost considered a nusiance plant.
I would gladly swap you cardboard palms for coontie's. I have several cardboard palms growing from 3-4 inch tall to 6-7 inch tall.
If interested in a swap contact me via d mail. The plant pictured is in the ground about 2 weeks. I grew it in a pot.
Art
Yippee, Art! You made one of my Christmas wishes come true! I definitely want to swap coonties for cardboard palms. My coonties are also in the same heighth range as your cardboard palms. I have transplanted coonties of this seedling size with no problems so they should grow well for you. I'll contact you by personal DG mail to arrange the swap.
Thanks! Jeremy
Jeremy, Thanks, I am looking forward to it. The best way is to mail them priority mail us post office on Mondays.
Looking forward to your dmail
Art
Ok folks...Looking to swap my Cardboard palm seedlings for Coontie seedlings. I have one Cardboard palm with it's first regular fronds out and two with multiple beginner fronds out. Both groups are going into their second year. I have as many first year Cardboard Palm seedlings as you would want. All seedlings are growing nicely. They ship great. I will swap one for one.
I would like to get this swap done quickly as I want to have the Coonties in the ground by the end of January.
D-mail me how many you want and include your mailing address.
Thanks,
Art Constantino (artcons)
Glad these Coonties are worth popping in the ground. Just got back from MN a couple days ago and the Coontie seeds are still in the van! Yikes.
Hi, Artcons. The holidays have delayed my following through with the trade, but I still have coonties to exchange for cardboard palms. I wanted to find a moment also to take a pix of my coontie babies so that you could see what you are getting in advance. I have a few 2nd or 3rd year seedlings that are only now getting past the one or two leaf stage, and quite a few of the 1st year seedlings. I'll give you your choice of the lot.
Thanks Nancy, for making my holiday wish come true with a surprise package of cardboard palms, including one nice mature big guy that looks right at home in the prominent spot that I gave it in my garden!
Jeremy
Jeremy, the Coonties are much slower growers than the Cardboard palms. The cardboard palms that are one and two leaf this moment in time, will have 5 or 6 new fronds this year. They grow that fast. In pots as I have most of them, they are much slower growers. I just have one that has several of the regular looking fronds, that's in the ground. I will dig up so you will have a decent one to start with.
The cardboard palms can also grow differently. For example, I have several that have 4 or 5 fronds that are the baby fronds, not the mature looking fronds. These plants will grow very fast. They can, down here, get to 12-14 inches wide in a single year. Others will take two to three years to get that big.
I have coonties that have only grown two new fronds in a year.
Keep in mind, these cardboard palms get very big around. It takes them a while to get tall, but in a few years they can be three to four feet across.
Send me your address and how many you want via Dmail and I will get them out to you on Monday or Tuesday, depending on how fast I get your reply. You will have them by the weekend. I will send you the largest one's I have.
Art
You have D-mail, Art. Provide me your postal address in your reply and I'll get the coonties out to you.
Thanks!
Jeremy
Jeremy,
If you need anymore coonties or cardboards tell me I got a few... I also got a coontie that is a variety of the "Palatka Giant" of the coontie, the larger coontie that can reach about 4-5" in height over time unlike some of the other natvie varieties... I am working on that in micropropagation. Will see how it goes. But you are welcome to a few if ya need. I have ummm say 100 seedlings of coontie so far and maybe 20-30 cardboards and more pop up all the time.
I planted my seeds under the banana tree on top of the soil and then threw an extra helping of mulch and leaves on the seeds and they pop up pretty qucik, for coonties that is. I am working on something else with these seeds involving some embryo rescue, will see how that goes as well.
If ya need some plants give me an email at botanyguy @ comcast.net
Is anyone here growing them in zone 8b-9a???????
I have a small cardboard and would love to try one in the ground, but the guy I got it from said it wasn't hardy. At $20, I wouldn't want to lose it. I am not sure I could replace this one so easily. Does anyone else have experience with it?
Thanks.
Janet
Hey, Janet. Jacksonville, Florida, where I and BotanyGuy are located, is Zone 8b/9a borderline. You shouldn't have any trouble growing them in Mississippi. I've exchanged plants back and forth with other cajun-country folk and we've both been happy with the results. I agree about plopping down $20 for a plant you are not sure will work for you (or for just about any plant unless it is something I think that I've gotta have or can't face another day -- which turns out to be how I feel about most plants .... LOL).
BotanyGuy, I am probably being greedy with all the wish-come-true cardboard palms I've received or am about to receive from DG friends, but I do love the plants and will take just about all I can get.
I'll send you an E-mail. I do hope we can do the long planned tour of each other's gardens soon. It sounds like you have some really interesting stuff and are doing some great experiments.
Jeremy
Botanyguy, I was very interested in your post above about the "Palatka Giant" var of coontie. If you have a spare plant, I would love to have one.
I see your email address above. I will note you and attach a plant picture listing of my plants. Perhaps there is something you would be willing to trade for on my listing for one of your "Palatka Giant" coonties.
My preference in plants is for Florida natives so you will see they dominate my listing. Although many of the plants I have are Florida "weeds" or Florida Wildflowers.
My email name is artcons so you will know its from me.
Art
Hey Jeremy,
Thanks for the info!! I was thinking we were in the same zone, although, I have never seen anyone growing cardboards or coonties here along the coast.
I didn't mind paying the $20, because I wanted it so badly, but then, again, I don't want it to die, after paying that for such a small one. LOL!!!
Good luck with all of your new babies!!
Janet
Just watch the freezes and frosts with the cardboard, I take mine into the "almost done" green house where there is a heater... I lost a bigger one during a freeze in Titusville once, and it never came back, it didnt hurt the coonties or sagos. But for some reason the cardboard didnt like it. I have friends that have their cardboards containerized so in case of a freeze, or like we are about to get this weekend, durn cold weather, all my plants are going to the green house...
Chris
I've had success with overwintering plants the heighth of cardboard palms in the ground with a hefty, heavy mulch of hay. Pile the hay on about 4 inches thick and then cover it with some heavy mil vizqueen plastic. The hay makes a nice, cozy blanket that can be easily removed and replaced with the rising and falling of winter temperatures.
Capping an old aquarium over plants also works for a mini-greenhouse/bell jar. A few years ago, I found an old 50 gallon tall octagonal aquarium on the street that I use for one of my cold sensitive plants. I just leave the aquarium in the garden during the warm months and set a potted plant on top of it.
Jeremy
Looks like everyone got their seeds and swaps taken care of. Went back to the Coontie plants yesterday but all the seeds have been picked up/cleaned up. Will have to remember to look for more next year :)
Hi Dutchlady,,,
Here are my seed cone for my cardboard palm. The furry brown kernels turn red and then fall off like an ear of corn. Hope this will help
Hi Nancy, If you can, you ought to send up a picture of your whole cardboard palm to show them how big it can get. I couldn't believe how big your cardboard palm was. I don't think they will either.
Art
OK Kids, here it is.
Just for reference, the rake is 5' tall. It is so wide because it has made babies. The plant it 20 years old.
Enjoy.
I have 3 cardboard palms in my backyard. They seem to grow very nicely.
We have had a couple of cold snaps here..Even had a frost and it didn't seem to effect them at all!
I am sure they would grown just fine in Mississippi
Wow! Happy, that is the Mother of all cardboard palms! What a beauty! I'm happy to have some of her offspring!
Jeremy
