Grass Tree formerly known as Blackboy Tree

21 years ago

I live in Tasmania and have always admired this plant. My son bought me one for my birtdhay and I currently have it in a large pot just inside my front door. It is growning well but know shows signs of brown markings on the new "leaves".

I have now knowledge of how to correctly care for this lovely plant. Can anyone tell me the "do's and don'ts" and if it will still grown happily inside.

Any suggestions would be extremely useful, especially as the plant now looks like it has become sick and I would like to stop any further damage.

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Comments (6)

popi_gw
21 years ago
Xanthorhoea sp. is the name of the grass tree. Might have spelt it wrong, sorry.

I would want to know where the plant came from, sometimes people remove them from the bush by just cutting through the stump. I have my doubts whether they would reshoot after that assault.

But some are sold in the nurseries so I guess they survive okay.

I would do a search on google and see if you can come up with some cultural needs of your plant.

Sorry cant be much more help. I would be interested to hear from experts about this topic.

Popi
gardenlen
21 years ago
can't help with your problem, not sure that they grow that far south they may do i have seen them in the wild in the hottest parts and the driest parts. if it is a very small plant no trunk just looks like grass growing from the pot it most likel is grown from seed but as popi said if it has a well defined grunk then it may have been ripped out of the bush and unless they knew waht they were doing it is most likely not going to grow. from waht i have read they need certain bacteria in the soil to thrive and usually this is where they were growing, so they can be a very site specific plant.

but do some reading up online that may help you along the way.

len
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pos02
21 years ago
I don't know if they would like it indoors. Normally they grow in dry forest or in the open, so they like a fair bit of sun. If all goes bad you can actually burn the leaves, and they will come back better than ever. I think there have been other threads about this last year. I would put it outside with at least half sun, and keep the water up to it for a while (not soaking) and see how it goes. I don't think there is a lot else you can do unfortunately.
judydu
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks for your ideas everyone. This one was specially harvested with a tag that said the supplier had permission to sell them. We bought it from a Woolworths supermarket. I will try it outside for a while and see how it goes. A search on Google didn't show me too much but I will try again. Thanks once again.
moreton
21 years ago
Hi Judydu,
they do not like to much prodding and poking and moving around as in the wild they don't get to move much, overwatering in a domestic situation is a big problem, as is over heating behind a glass windows tend to magnify the suns rays, your winter could be a problem also.
Try this site as well, good luck, Peter r

Here is a link that might be useful: Grass tree
judydu
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks Peter r I will check it out!

Grass Tree formerly known as Blackboy Tree

Comments (6)

popi_gw

gardenlen

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Grass Tree formerly known as Blackboy Tree

Comments (6)

popi_gw

gardenlen

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judyduOriginal Author

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