Giant T-Rex Plants! Growing Tetrapanax papyrifer 'Rex' in your Tropical Garden

Today's video is all about growing one of the coolest and most visually impressive hardy plants with big architectural leaves and fast growth perfect for your UK tropical and jungle style garden - Tetrapanax papyrifer 'Rex', the Chinese Rice-Paper tree. These awesome 'T-Rex' plants are an amazing addition to any garden and make a fantastic specimen plant over a few short years. I look at planting size, growth rate, watering and feeding tips and winter care / protection plus the best spot to plant yours to take full advantage of the giant leaves and reduce it's potential suckering / pup habit. Personally I grow a few different varieties currently including the 'standard' papyrifer, 'Rex' and 'Steroidal Giant'. In colder areas, these plants can potentially die back to ground level then reshoot from the roots but for most of the UK these are a hardy, if deciduous plant. These are amazing foliage plants, like a giant Fatsia Japonica or Ricinus - with huge divided leaves nearly as big as a Gunnera but held up on a sturdy stem - definitely a fantastic tropical look plant choice for your garden! I didn't mention it in the video, but the dust from under the leaves can cause minor throat irritation when disturbed so try not to breathe it in when you're working around the plant. I've put links to the fertilisers and plant feeds I use plus the Tetrapanax Growers Facebok group below: FB group - great for ID purposes and finding out if you Tetrapanax is one of the special forms "Di-Su-Shan" "Empress", "Meifeng" "Rex" or "Steroidal Giant" - or even just the common Papyrifer which is still an impressive plant:   / 344263383237430   Budget Liquid Seaweed Fertiliser (Great for a lot of 'tropical' style plants) https://amzn.to/3cZofLn Another brand with good reviews I've used in the past: https://amzn.to/3mET0c1 20kg Chicken Manure Pellets, a great 'slow release' fertiliser for massive summer growth! https://amzn.to/3sZAj4R Tomato feed, perfect for Cannas etc: https://amzn.to/2TZ02hq Vitax 6X Fertiliser, I use this alongside or instead of the above to boost the growth of big leaved plants like Tetrapanax, bananas etc. https://amzn.to/2Q3prVg 0:00 Intro 0:25 Growing Tetrapanax for giant leaves and tropical effect! 2:20 Tetrapanax forms - is yours a Rex? 3:43 Tetrapanax Buying and Planting Tips 4:22 Young Tetrapanax Winter Care 5:19 Tetrapanax Hardiness and Winter Protection 6:17 Tetrapanax Forms and Growth Rate 7:35 Tetrapanax Suckering Habit 8:36 How much space does Tetrapanax take up? 9:29 - Tetrapanax Sun / Shade Requirements 10:21 Tetrapanax Soil, Watering and Feeding Care Requirements If you've enjoyed my content and would like to say thanks for the price of a coffee then please head over to my Ko-fi, any kind donations would be appreciated and put towards creating more exciting content (or treats for Max if you wish!): https://ko-fi.com/georgesjunglegarden​ Thanks, George