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Australian Native Plants

Tree fern crown shrinking ???

13 years ago

Hi, I live in the UK and have had a lovely 6ft tree fern (Dicksonia Antartica) for the last 3 years. It is planted in the ground and each year produces a lovely crop of huge fronds. During the winter I fill the crown with straw, tie the fronds together to add more protection, then wrap the whole tree in fleece.

Once winter is over I unwrap it and cut off the fronds, which by this time are brown and dead. What I have noticed is that each year the new fronds come out from the crown, but this means that each year the crown is getting smaller and smaller in size - like an ever decreasing circle.

When I look at the trunk, I can see where all the old fronds have been trimmed over time, and the shape of the trunk is like an hour glass, which suggests to me that this has happened to it at some point before.

My question is: is it normal for the crown to get smaller and smaller each year, as the new fronds come out. Or am I doing something wrong ? I worry as I can see a point in say 5 years time where the crown will be too small for any new fronds to come out !

Thanks,
Steve

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Comments (4)

tropicbreezent
13 years ago
A shrinking crown is definitely a bad sign. Where in the UK are you? I think there are some mild climates there where they would survive okay. Perhaps not yours. How long are the fronds tied and wrapped for? The plant needs light and air, that's probably why the fronds all end up dead. That sets the plant back a lot. Can you build up some sort of a framework around it and cover with plastic? Something that will let light in and leave it a bit of air space. It all really depends on what sort of modification your climate requires, and how prepared you are to carry out that modification.
stevew30
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the reply. The length of time the fronds stay wrapped really depends on the severity of the winter. This year it was probably about 10 - 12 weeks that they were wrapped and the tree as not watered as we had a bad winter. I have attached some pics to show you what the tree looks like as it always produces nice long fronds. These ones are about 4 - 5 weeks old now but you can clearly see the crown is getting smaller due to new fronds coming from the centre over the years. I dont see any way I can really protect the tree without wrapping it as it gets so cold in the North of England over winter, and I am sure the plant would die if I didnt wrap it.
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stevew30
Original Author
13 years ago
Here is another picture which shows the hour glass shape of the trunk where I am assuming the crown has shrunk in size previously. I have only had the tree for 3yrs so this would have happened way before I had it
HU-92902651
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
When you cut the fronds back you should leave 15cm as this becomes the new trunk.

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