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Is my Dicksonia Antartica dead?

sherringham2001sherringham2001 Posts: 8
in Problem solving
I bought an Australian harvested Dicksonia Antartica and planted it in late May. I have kept it well watered during the dry spell, but the fronds never grew and all I have is the log. The crown has now sunk in and you can see what looks like black rotten ferns fronds. I am just wondering is it dead or could it come back to life next spring with new fronds emerging?

Posts

  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    that is stone dead,

    if it wasn't showing leaves in May then its been sold to you dead, i would contact the seller and complain
  • karen paulkaren paul Posts: 230
    What's that white thing in one of the old fronds at the top of the 2nd pic? It looks like the head of a big grub, maybe that could be responsible if that's what it is. It looks to me like it started the season well as new fronds did start but then something went wrong, whether before or after you bought it. 
  • sherringham2001sherringham2001 Posts: 8
    Yeah I've complained to the seller and they've given me a replacement. I was just wondering weather to keep this one and hopefully revive it, but it looks dead and it sounds like there is no hope. 

    It looked healthy when I planted it. After about a month there was brown fur all around the base of the trunk that had fallen off.

    The white thing is just from the flash, I took the picture in the evening. Whats the head of a big grub?
  • karen paulkaren paul Posts: 230
    Like a big caterpillar type thing I mean (I raise deaths head hawk moths and it just looked the same shape as their head, haha) I would be tempted to molly coddle the tree fern somewhere really warm and humid if possible just to give it a last chance of there being any root still alive in there at all. I did manage to kill one of mine years ago over winter and it looked a lot sorrier than yours does at present, not a single frond and all the 'hair' fell off :/ I still have the stump though because it seems to be a good bug hotel :) Good luck, I hope there's still life in it and it's just taking its time to recover from something.
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