Hi Steve, all these botanical names confuse me so I have to rely on my trusty wildflower books. This is the "grass tree" or "black boy" to us older people who may not be as politically correct as we should.

Like a lot of west ausies that live in the bush, I have some of these growing naturally, but it is a whole different story trying to transplant or raise from seed.

According to the trusty books these need a damp sandy soil with "sharp" (?) drainage and full sun. Propogated from seed they can take upto a year to germinate. These plants are susceptible to root rot.

The ones that occur naturally around my place are all growing in really dry sand, they had never been watered b4 we built our home, so we didn't start. They don't get any attention actually, we just leave them to do their own thing and in the long hot dry summers we still don't water them. A few have come up where we cleared the land to build and they just do there own thing too, with no special attention.

Hot and dry...seems to be the re-occuring theme and I will be interested to read what others (with far more experience than me) have to say.

Good luck, Marie

Yes, I would suspect overwatering and/or inadequate soil drainage. They hate wet roots.
Tony

Steve, I have some that are just seedlings, so not a lot of experience, but so far they are still looking good and growing in a mix consisting of more than 1/2 coarse pumice with some sand and bark. They are in deep pots and they are inclined to grow a lot of roots. Also a large plant of X. preissii that had most of its root system rotted off when I bought it (too much water again) did a lot better after I repotted it into a soil mix consisting of pure coarse wood chips.

cheers for the advice!! i have one left still but it it very sorry looking i have thought of buying a larger specimen but i dont think i should support the export of them.i might try some differnt seeds i think i can get about 6 species any ideas on good ones to try??
thanks
steve

I live in the Washington, DC area and have been growing X. australis in a deep container using 3:1 ratio of pine bark mini-nuggests to coarse granitic sand (actually chicken grit, e.g. Southern States Gran I Grit developer size). Every 2 weeks, I water the plant and apply Alaska 5:1:1 fish fertilizer. The plant is kept outside during our hot humid summers and brought into a sunroom in the winter. The specimen is doing well and the only problem I have had are grasshoppers that confuse it with grass and feed on its leaves. Currently, I'm germinating Xanthorrhoea preissii seeds.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Australian Native Plants

I can offer the same experience as Marie. I'm in sydney and have many grass trees growing naturally in my yard. They're naturally occuring and not cleared when the house was built. So although it's no direct correlation for seed raised plants. I have the same experience as Marie - dry conditions. They are in very dry sandy soil, and we don't touch them. They are multiplying, they love it. The soil has excellent drainage, ie it is shallow over sandstone.
cheers and good luck
Andrea

Does anyone know how long we can keep our new grass tree in a 30cm pot? The plant has not reached the sides of the pot yet (only got it yesterday).