Wollemi Pine survives winter!!

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 2:55 pm

I hope my Wollemi pine takes off this year. It appears to have survived winter.......the top bud is a little brown......I hope it's not dead.

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... 11538a.jpg>

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... 11602d.jpg>

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... 11539b.jpg>

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... 111625.jpg>

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:55 pm

Very cool! Keep us updated.
But no, I am not going to try it myself.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:37 pm

A few photos from today. The tip of the Wollemi appears dead.........AGAIN. Perhaps I did not protect enough early in the winter prior to setting up the greenhouse. The tip didn't look that good when I set up the greenhouse.

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... G_1529.jpg>

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... G_1535.jpg>

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... G_1531.jpg>

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... G_1534.jpg>

I'm not sure if all that sap on the trunk is NORMAL?? Does everyone else have this sap on the trunk??

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:57 pm

Tim, what temps did the Wollemi endure this winter?

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:21 am

Mine isn't outside, but I've never seen that white stuff (sap?) on the trunk.

Wollemias produce "polar caps" on their buds, presumably to protect them in winter.
Or maybe it was a response to protecting from fires that frequently ravaged their habitat.

The last remaining stand (where it was discovered in 1994) in deep canyon of the Blue Mountain Range of Australia showed those polar caps.

Mine seems to produce polar caps around the buds each year.
Resembles candle wax.

I bet yours will create new buds along the trunk just below the dieback, Tim.

Barb

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:38 am

Hi Cameron,

I didn't have a probe inside the greenhouse this winter. The lowest temp recorded at the local school was a mild 5F (-15C). I have lights inside the greenhouse; therefore, I would imagine the temps were likely 10F warmer or so....just guessing. The tip was damaged looking when I constructed the greenhouse on Jan 1 or so. I think we hit 7F (-14C) at the local school prior to the greenhouse going up I placed a cover over it that night. I think that did it in.

Hi Barb,

These Wollemi's are dropping like flys on the east coast (except for the ones in Wash DC). They seem to have root diseases in our soils. Perhaps the National Arboretum knows how to treat for that and there's are much happier/hardier. Joe K took these photos recently.......very cool!

<img src=https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-gb3p ... CN8658.JPG>

<img src=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-06K2 ... CN8629.JPG>

<img src=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-x2-L ... CN8665.JPG>

<img src=https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_kVS ... CN8659.JPG>

<img src=https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-u2Yn ... CN8666.JPG>

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:51 am

Root disease from your "soils"?
May be true, considering the parent stand is on calcerous rock.
And as they've been propagated by tissue culture, variation is unlikely.

But don't give up hope...in habitat, wherever their branches touched the ground, they rooted and the stand continued to spread.
In spring, maybe lay a bottom branch on the soil (after a slight cut--soil side--with a knife), hold it down with a rock and see if it roots.
Maybe sprinkling some limestone dust around its base every year would help to moderate the pH?
Or try wood ashes? (same result).

Nice pics from the Arboretum...wow, have they ever grown.

Updates please, Tim.

Fingers crossed in the meantime.

Barb

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:54 am

Seems they do fine. So it means they are the Zone 8 survivors. I would cover them with some cloth just to be sure they wouldn't burn in March.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 12:29 pm

Hi Barb,

I don't know much about root diseases but the Wollemi's are subject to the following:

"They are easily stressed, and prone to phytophthora root rot, as well several other soil diseases."

Tim

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Feb 19, 2012 5:32 pm

Gotta be from acidic soils, I bet.

Growing on rocks in AU, no reports of it there, but I'll have a look.

Hope yours bounces back, Tim.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:45 am

Thats cool Tim

I hope it makes it for you......

BTW

My Sequoia is chin high on me(I am 6')and looking at it yesterday
I think this will be the first winter with 0% damage and that with
absolutely no protection at all this year!
This should really blast off this year...maybe even double in size!

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:33 pm

Hi Jim,

it's great your Sequoiadendron has no damage this year. Keep us posted on it's progress this year as it will likely grow 3 ft or so.

PS, I"ve been looking for a zone 6b hardy Sequoia sempervirens form.........do you know of one?

Tim

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:30 am

Great news Jim, congrats.

I know how much you love that tree.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:53 am

TimMAz6 wrote:Hi Jim,

it's great your Sequoiadendron has no damage this year. Keep us posted on it's progress this year as it will likely grow 3 ft or so.

PS, I"ve been looking for a zone 6b hardy Sequoia sempervirens form.........do you know of one?

Tim

I sure don't,that is one that needs to stay wet for sure,not very hardy either.

Thanks Barb

I may see if there is a way to get is recognized so maybe it would be protected
and not accidentally removed at any time by the city.

Then again,letting them know its there....

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:12 am

Hi Jim,

we stay wet here in Coastal Massachusetts. If we don't get rain for 3 weeks we call it a drought! No kidding. I found a S. sempervirens 'Swarthmore College' which is suppose to be long term hardy in southeast Pennsylvania.....there climate is not much different from ours.........perhaps they are a 1/4 zone to 1/2 zone warmer??

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:38 am

I may see if there is a way to get is recognized so maybe it would be protected
and not accidentally removed at any time by the city.

Then again,letting them know its there....

Yeah, that's the Catch 22.

Are there any big-time gardening societies in your area?
If so, they generally wield considerable influence, i.e. "diversity" with officials.
Especially if they conduct garden tours annually and you get "listed" on their website.

While you may shudder at joining a group of mostly 60-ish women

there's always safety in numbers.
Besides, you'd look good in a skirt.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 5:31 am

Update photo of my Wollemi pine. I guess I protected too late this year as all the new growth died. The old growth is fine......hmmmmm interesting observation.

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... G_1850.jpg>

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 7:27 am

It'll branch below the kill, Tim.

Did you see any polar cap formation (white waxy stuff on the buds) last Fall?

Barb

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:39 pm

Hi Barb,

yes I did see polar caps last fall on the Wollemi. I didn't construct the greenhouse until the first week of January.........we had a few cold nights prior to that so I guess it got a little too cold??

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:39 pm

Yeah, probably.
The main thing is it's alive.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:56 pm

sorry Barb..........I dug the Wollemi up today...........I'll donate it to someone with a greenhouse. I understand why they are nearly extinct.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:51 pm

dug the Wollemi up today...........I'll donate it to someone with a greenhouse. I understand why they are nearly extinct

One that size is worth about $200 around here...
It could go into your basement/cool porch/spare room

Understand if it's a disappointment to you.

After all the years I waited and what I went through to get mine, it NEVER sees 32F 0C...
Gets treated better than H.

Barb

bgodwin1987 · Post by **bgodwin1987** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 9:37 pm

Where can you order a Wollemi pine tree online at in the US? Anyone know? I want one. I saw one over the Summer at the Missouri Botanical Garden, they keep theres in a green house though.

andym · Post by **andym** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:03 pm

Interesting comments about this plant. Kev Spence from GOTE did a thread on this plant. He has even managed to get cones on his plant. Also some interesting comments from American members.
http://www.growingontheedge.net/viewtop ... f=2&t=7362

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:50 pm

Thanks for that link, Andy.
Interesting about cone location north/south

When I heard some were dying (that shouldn't have "weatherwise"), wondered if they'd start dying all over the world.
I believe propagation was via tissue culture from the original stand in the Blue Mountains back in 1994.
So very little variation.

Mine may have seen -2C in the garage; back indoors now.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/8330517833/" title="053 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8352/8330 ... ac46_c.jpg" width="600" height="800" alt="053"></a>

Barb

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 7:01 pm

Hi Andy,

I had my Wollemi outside in protection for 2 winters now and it received sever die-back each winter........the low temperature was down to 7F or so inside the protection.

Wollemi's are zone 8b/9a plants. I really don't have an interest in growing large 'tree' plants which can't take temperatures below 10F. I was hoping it would get hardier with age.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 7:01 pm

Hi Barb,

your Wollemi is a BEAUTY! Don't place it outside or it will look like mine.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:13 pm

would get hardier with age

like palms and yuccas, Tim?

If I could grow yuccas like you folks on PN, I probably wouldn't ever have ordered a Wollemi.

Barb

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Wed Jan 02, 2013 7:29 am

Hi Barb,

next season protect 2 of your rostratas and leave the 3rd unprotected. I think it will be OK in your area since your so dry.

marceli · Post by **marceli** » Wed Jan 02, 2013 8:04 am

Wollemi pine in our local zoo:

I don't know if gets any protection during winters.

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Wed Jan 02, 2013 8:28 am

It might have to do with a soil organism that is lacking in the US. There is quite a lot of information about this with a simple google:

http://www.academia.edu/1037374/Ancient ... _resurgent

A complex community of microorganisms lives within and alongside wollemi pines.The moist microclimate that shelters the trees promotes symbiotic associations with several spe-cies of endophytic and mycorrhizal fungi. The former live between the plant’s own cells in theleaves and stems. There, some types produce chemical compounds that help protect the plantfrom pathogens. One such substance is paclitaxel, an important anti-cancer drug that is currentlyharvested from the rare Pacific Yew and sold as Taxol in North America. Mycorrhizal fungi live inand among root cells and send projections out into the soil, where they aid nutrient absorption.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Jan 02, 2013 9:05 am

protect 2 of your rostratas and leave the 3rd unprotected

Might do that, Tim.
Tough to choose which one to sacrifice

marceli, that's a big specimen at the zoo, wow.
Did the zoo have it locked inside a steel cage when it arrived?
Seems most the botanic gardens did that.
Part of the hype.

a soil organism that is lacking in the US.

Interesting info, Jesse.
The botanists will figure that out in no time.

Barb

marceli · Post by **marceli** » Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:48 pm

lucky1 wrote:marceli, that's a big specimen at the zoo, wow.
Did the zoo have it locked inside a steel cage when it arrived?
Seems most the botanic gardens did that.
Part of the hype.

Barb

Barb, I found it by accident. Will try to check someday in spring if it's still there.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Jan 02, 2013 1:53 pm

if it's still there.

I hope the zoo realizes the value of that specimen and looks after it.
Megabucks, but probably a donation.

Barb

PalmsNorth.com

Wollemi Pine survives winter!!

Wollemi Pine survives winter!!

Who is online