Tree Fern planting depth

I found a picture of the tarmacked tree ferns!

 

Bit late to the discussion...

Did you get it planted John?

I hope you didnt plant two foot of it in the ground, a real shame to lose all that height.

Tree Ferns (well Dicksonia antarctica) will re root quite vigourously, and dont need so muc burrying. For an 8 Foot DA i would not plat more than a foot in the ground, and personally would stake and plant about 6 inches. The more important thing is to water like mad from the top - these really need a good soaking as often as possible - in warm sunny weather a couple of times a day would not be over kill. The big logs will put out good sized fronds for the first couple of years after planting from the stored reserves they have, you will usually find they will then grow shorter fronds after that until they are well established - the more water the better. Its also worth feeding - there are specialist liquid feeds for tree ferns, but seaweed or disolved chicken poo pellets are just as good.

The concrete thing was a down to dermott Gavin, and is utter rubbish, they can not grow in concrete, needing a good root run and plenty of water.

Dont forget to give some protection in winter, as Tree Ferns are really only borderline hardy plants in the UK. Many people lost them this winter wit the very cold temperatures we had. We have several and some have been a bit late into growth this year - not helped by the local squirrels - who love newly emerging fronds.

 

We havent been away well not since May anyway, Just been quite busy with work and the Garden.

As for squirrels, we tend to put some netting round when the 'knuckles' (the new fronds) start to appear. This keeps them away, but you then need to adjust to make sure the fronds don’t get deformed. I know of people who sprinkle with a dilute Tabasco mix that seems to work too.

Winter, there’s lots of various tricks, and it does depend on what temperature is expected but we add a ball of scrunched up weed membrane into the centre of each fern. That seems to work for us, and despite a very cold winter for us nearly all our Tree ferns have come back strongly. A couple were quite late and these will get a bit more protection next winter. Some people will add lots of straw etc to the crown.

In terms of winter cold, -8C seems to be where problems can start. Dicksonia can be hardy to below this, and ours have taken -8, -9 and -10 over the last three winters. The length of the cold is more likely to be the problem than the exact temperature (like many other plants really). Half of ours started into growth at the normal time and with the usual vigour this spring. The others have been slower but other than a small 1 foot fern they have all got going again. I’m confident the 1 footer is still alive as the base of the old fronds are still green, its just very slow this year.

Avoid plastic for protection as it can trap water and promote rot in winter.

Sounds like you have got it planted well, and it should respond to all the water.