Cardboard palm

Discussion in 'Indoor and Greenhouse Plants' started by jreidsma, Nov 3, 2009.

  1. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    I went to a local kmart that was closing down. What I bought there was a small cardboard palm it was a bonsai it said on the tag and some of its leaves were really dark brown and it they didnt water it at all during the 1-3 weeks that they had it. So I brought it home and watered it. I will post pictures later. Does anyone know anything about these plants I know the watering needs and simple stuff like. Thank you
     
  2. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    Hi there,

    I have never heard of a cardboard palm before it maybe that it is known by some other name. Some pictures would be nice to know exactly what it is.

    Nath
     
  3. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Presumably an artificial plant shaped like a palm, made of cardboard. In which case, watering it won't do it any good at all!
     
  4. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    A Google search for cardboard palm reveals that this common name is being used for a species of Zamia. I got a whole bunch of hits.
     
  5. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    Ya its real lol. I just watered it and it lifted its leaves back up and is getting a little color back in them. Here are some pictures of it. I couldnt get my camera to focus very well. But there is a little fuzzy thing on top were the leaves come out. It might be fake.
     

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  6. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    The pictures arent the right color. It wants to focus on the background color. The leaves look acording to my mom a darker green or brown color. I might replant it when I get the chance to.
     
  7. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    Its a Cycad , I have quite a few of those thats just a baby. Be very careful with the watering and very careful with the roots as it gets larger it will need repotting but the roots don't always take kindly to being disturbed. If well looked after it will grow quite large at least a metre across and if kept in a pot maybe a metre or two high. If any of the branches go yellow cut them of as close to the Caudex as possible. Feed it once a month with some epsom salts and it should do okay. They are very slow growing but very beautiful when they have a full crown, I would say its not a Bonsai though and strictly speaking its not a palm really either though they do get called Sago Palms. There are a few threads on this forum about them and their care. But here is a link that may help you anyway.

    http://www.junglemusic.net/cycadadvice.htm

    Michael F I did like that comment made me laugh anyway!

    Nath
     
  8. Bluewing

    Bluewing Well-Known Member

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    I keep mine outdoors all summer with plenty of sun. It gets watered when completely dry, every two to three weeks or so.
    In the winter months, it stays in a cool, although heated ((45-55) degree garage, otherwise, inside a warm house, the cool green can, and has in the past, turned into dry straw!
     
  9. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    Its going to stay in my house during the winter because here in Michigan it can get below 0 degrees F. and I live in a mobile home so I dont have a garage or anything. I dont really know if it is a cardboard palm (Zamia furfuracea) or a sago palm because it looks like both of them. It would probebly take the same care though. With the bonsai thing how it grows slow I'll just let it grow and use it as a house plant when I'm older. Thanks for all the help with it. I think it might be making a new leaf stem thing (I dont know what I should call the leaf stalk things). I also heard that cardboard palms make a poisoness berry but dosint show the flowers.
     
  10. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    It looks like it needs repotting in any case, but I agree with Bluewing they love a sunny patio in Summer with a bit of partial shade and if you get the balance of care wrong you can end up with a Caudex and no fronds. never give up on them though as they have a habit of springing back into life. it looks more like a Cycas Revoluta to me especially as you say that the fronds are a deeper green than in the pictures.

    Don't leave it too near a radiator inside in the winter as you can dry it out very quickly and the green growth can lose its moisture.

    Nath
     
  11. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    I've just had a look at your Zamia furfuracea on the web and the leaves for want of a better word on the fronds are quite different from what you have there. As your Cycad grows bigger the leaves will be very prickly when you catch your self on them. Spiky at the ends. on the Zamia furfuracea they are rounded almost oval shaped even on baby specimins.

    Nath
     
  12. thanrose

    thanrose Active Member 10 Years

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    Sure looks like Cycas revoluta to me. Also known as sago palm, but please don't think it is a palm tree. It is definitely a cycad, a very ancient plant form.

    That furry thing in the middle is the caudex people have mentioned. Think of it as an above ground or mostly above ground bulb. Don't trim it away or clean off the brown fuzz, although it's not all that fragile. New growth will come out of the center of it.

    I see these sold as bonsai in the big box stores, but it's just not the best situation for them. Plus they can't be trained as you would a more traditional bonsai.

    You won't see seeds on this for quite a while if ever. One of mine is ~25 years old and has only fruited a couple of times. There will be this massive cone like thing that will eventually have these red orange fruits with a large stone or pit in them. They take a very long time to sprout. Seems to me my best time was three months or so, but some took nearly a year to sprout. I propagated with pups from the main plant instead.

    My coontie or Zamia pumila is a lot more fruitful than the sago palms.
     
  13. Bluewing

    Bluewing Well-Known Member

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    Cycas Revoluta/sago palms grows seeds in the middle of the plant fronds (leaves) I picked one from an outdoor plant that was growing in SC, brought it home and planted it in a small pot indoors and it took 7 months to sprout!

    If you don't have a heated garage, try to keep it in the coolest room during winter if you can:)

    Here's a closeup of mine, the caudex/crown that needs a trimming (sorry it's blurry & dark) and the fronds/leaves.
     

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  14. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    The fuzzy thing is coming out of were the leave frond things come out. I'm going to repot it as soon as posible. Ya the leaves are spiky one poked me on the finger and left alittle dent / hole in my finger I get attacked by my cactuses so this wasnt to bad. I have a little ball cactus with spikes that are more than 1 inch long. It might be hard to repot it because they glued rockes along the sides of the pot and I will have to make sure that there arent any roots in them.
     
  15. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    That looks nice and healthy Bluewing. I have brought mine in for the winter now though a couple are still in active growth shooting out new fronds.

    Jreidsma you should be ok as the roots tend to make a root ball when potted, but you will need to be careful. May be worth breaking the stones off first rather than damage the plant, when you repot make sure you give it at least the width of the root ball in room all the way around the pot. In Spain they believe that they are better of pot bound but its never worked well for me.

    Good luck and let us know how you get on.

    Nath
     
  16. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    Thanks for the info I never knew that it made a root ball. Because if you look threw the drainage holes you can see roots trying to grow threw them. I also just cliped the dead leaves off. The plant is looking better every day and looks pretty healthy. I took the rocks out and the supplier made a pot of rocks and put it in the plastic pot so it might take a while to repot it. I will try to break away the rocks insted of pulling the plant out.
     
  17. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    I just repotted it I think I didnt hurt any of the roots. The plant is lifting some of its leaves so I will post some pictures in a couple days.
     
  18. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    S8002369.jpg Thats great to hear. Lets hope it settles down well. Here is one of mine. This one is around 30 years old or so.

    Nath
     
  19. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    Wow yours and bluewings look great mine should look like that after a long wait. I'm having troubles with dead leaves the leaves turn yellow and die is there anything I can do some of the dead leaves are gaining their color back but some of them were knocked off at the store. I cut the dead ones off that had no tips but left the ones that had tips because they are gaining their color back.
     
  20. Bluewing

    Bluewing Well-Known Member

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    Nice plant Nath!

    Glad yours is doing better now jreidsma....
     
  21. Nath

    Nath Active Member

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    You can expect some of your fronds to go yellow, when they do cut them off as close to the caudex as possible. New shoots will appear when its the new growing season comes along. A Cycad can even at times lose all of its fronds and then new ones shoot up a year later, so never think the worst with them.

    Nath
     
  22. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    Thanks for the info but it isnt the whole frond its just the leaves sticking out of them. The fronds them selves are nice and healthy.
     
  23. thanrose

    thanrose Active Member 10 Years

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    An injured blade will occasionally yellow before drying to a crisp and falling off. If they bother you, just clip them off individually.

    Down here, they grow in the ground outside, year round. Any time I move one, from the tiniest pup to mature cycads, I prune all the fronds off. New ones will sprout at almost any time of the year. I have one that has scale right now, and I'm probably going to wait until January is past before I prune because I don't want a hard frost to injure the new fronds.

    However, yours is already stressed from being treated as a bonsai, from being neglected in the store, from being banged around in transfer, and now from being transplanted.

    Leave it alone. If the full fronds start to wither or yellow, cut them off, but otherwise just leave it alone to recuperate. Water sparingly through the winter.
     
  24. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    ok I dont mind if there are any dead parts I just want the plant to be healthy. I will leave it alone thanks for the info the ones that are turning yellow and dieing are injured but there are no more injuries so it should be ok.
     
  25. jreidsma

    jreidsma Active Member

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    Update on sago palm its leaves or blade whatever they are called are now starting to aim downward like on bluewings pic. Other than that it looks about the same as before.
     

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