Grow your own Zamia floridana
A Florida native almost wiped out by the Florida arrowroot flour industry in early the 1900's, the Zamia floridana (Coontie) is making a come back. Rare in the wild, it remains on the Florida Commercially Exploited Plant list making it illegal to collect wild specimens.
The Coontie is a cycad, a woody plant usually confused with palms and ferns, yet related to neither. Another well known cycad (that you are most likely familiar with) is the non-native Sago palm. Cycads, tree ferns and palms all have a central trunk topped by a whorl of leaves, usually without any side branches. Fern have spores. Palms have true flowers that become seed fruit.
But, cycads are Gymnosperm, and, cycads, Gingko, pines, Cyprus, and cedars have cones. Technically a woody plant, the cycad trunk actually is a thick, soft stem made up mostly of storage tissue with very little true wood tissue.
For years cycads were seen only in exotic botanical gardens like Fairchild Gardens (Miami) and Kanapaha Botanical Gardens (Gainesville). Occasional Coonties were found around old cracker homes. Today, thanks to cycad enthusiasts, state park programs and native plant growers the coontie is landscaped into parks and gardens throughout Florida.
Cycads are like no other plant group alive today. Among the most ancient of all plants, they are often called living fossils. The Zamia floridana's primitive tropical shaped silhouette with rich deep green glossy stiff fern-like leaves provides an excellent landscape plant for specimen display, border, foundation, transition, background, container display or bonsai. Hardy and adaptable, it grows in a wide range of soil tolerating drought, sun, shade, and moderate frost.
Cut coontie leaves stand out as greenery in floral arrangements. Coonties have few pests, such as the Red Florida Scale and mealy bug. Pests are rare if plants are not over watered and provided ample space for good air circulation. Infections are easy to control by occasional spray of horticultural oil and Malathion. Recurrent infections require adding a systemic pesticide (Orthene or Merit). In older plants, consider cutting out some weaker leaves to increase air circulation.
Prevent the problem by adequate spacing of new plants. Plant the larger Northeast coontie at four- to five-foot intervals and the smaller West Coast and South Florida coontie at two- to three-foot intervals. By the time they are five or six, the space will be filled.
A new crisis is the cycad aulacaspis scale. It came from Thailand and was first found in 1996 in the upscale landscape homes along Cutler road in Miami. It has now spread across the United States. This pest covers a plant in days to weeks with a white snow flake scale. The infestation is so strong it can kill the plant. Resistant to usual sprays, innovative science from the University of Florida has developed invasive bacteria and parasitic wasps to counter this pest. The Sago palm population is at risk because of this pest.
Coonties can be infected, but it is a rare event. Before the 1950's, old timers cut all their leaves back in spring. If they found pests, they sprayed the plants thoroughly with mineral oil or DDT. Today we have horticultural oil and safer chemicals like Merit and Malathion. This cultural practice can reduce pest problems for these tough plants. Unlike other cycads, Coonties suffer few mineral deficiencies. This is easily avoided by applying a palm fertilizer twice a year (spring and fall).
Coonties are expensive because they are slow growing. It takes five years to reach commercial size. The coontie flushes and produces new leaves only once the first year, and there are only two to four short leaves. If you break one off, you must wait another year for replacement. Each year coonties will produce more leaves and they are longer. At the fourth or fifth year, the beauty begins. Flushing many leaves once or twice each year.
You can grow your own from seed. And, once the seedling hardens you can plant them in the ground. Coontie growth is stunted in pots. They grow much faster and produce longer leaves when in the ground. Some commercial growers have figured this out. They now plant them in the ground. They return them to pots the year before sale.
For more information about gardening practices in Central Florida, contact the Marion County Master Gardeners at 671-8400, or visit their office in the Cooperative Extension Center, 2232 N.E. Jacksonville Road, Ocala.
1. Germination Mix is half perlite and half Canadian peat.
2. The sarcotesta (orange meaty seed coating) has an enzyme that inhibits germination. Remove the sarcotesta. Scrape it off with a knife, then rub seed clean with a paper towel. Wear rubber gloves. The sarcotesta is toxic in large doses. Lay seed flat on surface and press into mix, leaving only a small top of seed out at surface level. (I usually put only three to six seeds in a six inch pot. I believe there is an inhibitor released at germination that blocks further germination.)
3. Do not over water, fungus is the enemy. Let nature do the watering. Assist with light misting if no rain in several days. The seed will not germinate until the night time temperature is more than 70 degrees for several days. Artificial nursery heat at 75 degrees will force germination.
4. Avoid direct sun light because this will dry out surface of mix too fast.
5. Seed can germinate in a few days to six months. Be patient.
6. When seedling hardens, repot in a standard potting mix. Avoid excess moisture. Allow soil to dry before adding water.
7. Scale or mealy bug can be treated with a cotton tip and rubbing alcohol. I treat this with rubbing alcohol in a spray mist bottle.
8. Fertilize the seedling as soon as it is hardened with time release fertilizer (Osmocote) three or four times a year until five years old.