How to Re-Establish Cycads, By Maurice Levin, Jurassic Garden

When you receive a cycad in the mail, we want you to be able to re-establish it successfully. Preserving the endangered species in your garden is just as important to us as it is to you!

Here are some basic instructions to follow when you receive a plant shipment from us:

Re-Establishing Cycads

1. Check for any damaged or broken roots. Trim away and clean damaged areas

2. Dip in a solution that includes a fungicide/bactericide. If you have a fungicide that has rooting hormone in it, that is even better.

3. Pot the plant in pure coarse perlite until it is re-established. Make sure that at least 75% of the caudex (trunk) is planted below the soil line. Smaller plants should be planted even lower. Once the plant has re-established, you can re-pot in a soil mix, or use the alternative we recommend in step 5 below.

4. Re-water 2 or 3 times the first week, restricting watering thereafter.Do not allow water to gather in a tray below the pot. Cycads do not like to soak in their drainage water

5. Wait to re-pot until the roots have re-established, usually within 3-9 months. We recommend a mix consisting of 1/4 washed coarse silica sand, 1/4 pumice and 1/4 perlite, and only 1/4 organic material, which we recommend be composted forest humus, not peat moss. Fill the bottom 1-2 inches of the pot with gravel, to improve drainage. Water in well to ensure the roots adhere to the planting medium. Alternatively, we have found that less root damage occurs if you simply replace the top 3-6 inches of perlite with the potting soil mix, which will blend with the perlite below over time, instead of repotting the entire plant.