Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael_Andrew
They are just awesome Tog. I was doing a search on superbum and these popped up. They can get to 100 pounds? Holy cow! So how do you mount them. How do you water em? Tell us more Tog! lol It looks almost like the roots are put thru a piece of leather and nailed to the board. What is the growing medium?
thanks for the great pics and info!
Michael
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Hey Michael,
The
P superbum is quite common here now and you can get one of 8 in diameter for about $15. I had 10 of them and had to give them away at the time I gave up my earlier nursery. I kept 1 which grew quite big and it ended up on one of my friend's tree.
To grow them as a small sporeling the best way is to tie the plant onto a fern bark. Then when they get to at least 9in in diameter in size, you can mount them with a thick plastic coated wire onto just about anything. It may be a tree branch, trunk, concrete pillar, a metal pole, whatever you can think of. Watering is simple, just shoot the pipe right into the crown! From my experience, it helps that the fronds are kept moist with constant watering. Besides organic feeding, I foliar feed mine with Alaska fish emulsion.
Most species would want it wet while a couple like the
P wallichii from Indo China and
P quadricostatum from Madagascar must have a dry dormant period. If watered during this time, they will go bust. I killed 50 of the
P wallichii because of the rain here.
It is interesting that once they are establsihed with a good rooting system, they will pup all around. You can cut the pups out with an inch of the root and they will do fine. If you leave them on, after awhile they will do a 360 degree wrap around. I like to grow them on plastic drain covers as they are aesthetically pleasing and the plant can grow out from the back, later forming a complete 'ball'. Moreover, plastic drain covers do not deteriorate like wood or fern bark over time.
In total, there are less than 30 species in the world and I have at one time or another kept all except the
P madagascariensis and the
P quadridichotomum, both from Madagascar. I was given a couple of
P madagascariensis but I haven't taken them back from Bkk. They have been there at my friend's place for 6 years now!
The most common one found in M'sia is the
P coronarium which is abundant in old rubber estates. They are very cheap and you can get a big 2ft x 2ft one for less than $2 from the Orang Asli. I find that the most visually desirable one is the
P ridleyi found from Northern M'sia to Thailand. Its fronds are erect like that of a deer's antler. The main plant is like a big round ribbed cabbage.
I hope the info helps!
Sweet Platy dreams....