Can/Should this Hong Kong Orchid tree be saved?
dreamindecor
11 years ago
My 1 1/2 year old Hong Kong Orchid was hit by the frost (NE Phoenix) even though it was wrapped in Christmas lights. All the branches are dry and brittle, but I have a couple of shoots coming up at the bottom. Should I cut the whole thing back and try to grow it as a shrub or just take it out and start over with a different kind of tree. (Looking for something tropical)
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Haname
11 years ago
wanna_run_faster
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Hong Kong Orchid Tree
Comments (6)Yes, I did. I'm thinking its probably a goner. I bought it for $60 at AZ green things in tucson. I thought I lost a lot of things actually but my crape myrtles are leafing out, tecoma stans is coming up from the root, and butterfly bush is growing like crazy. I'm really bummed. It was beautiful when I planted, and yes the limbs are brittle. Goldie, I think the trunk on mine is about twice as thick as yours but its not as branchy....See MoreHong Kong Orchid tree needs help
Comments (17)I agree with the heavy pruning. I have three of them--all planted in the ground. There's one with red flowers. It had a strong and damaged branch close to the middle of the trunk. I sliced half of it down and, the tree kept throwing out new shoots at a fast rate and the leaves all look very green and healthy. I was worried about the other two showing sick looking leaves. The last summer, both had many long and straggly branches that were bordering our driveway. They had a good "hair cut," and since then, they have grown a lot faster than before. One of them which is the smaller sized one still has some sick looking leaves that look like they have been munched on. My guess is that younger tree tend to be a little weaker. I'm planning to clip off all those bad looking branches of leaves and see how things go from there. But, definitely trim it back to encourage new and healthier growth....See MoreHong Kong Orchid Tree Seedlings
Comments (35)Hey, Carol. I'm impressed that you know such detail about the freezes. You gotta be one hard-core gardener. I think the lowest we got here was 27 degrees for most of one night and then the other night was maybe around 29? A few degrees and a few hours can make a significant difference. The Hamilia Patens or Firebush is quite sensitive to below-freezing temps. What happened with mine is that we hadn't experience such a hard freeze in something like seven years? So the plants just kept on growing, 24-7 every day of the year. They had completely taken over one large portion of my yard that sits in back of the swimming pool. The Firebush is a thug where I live. It has to be worse further south. I tolerate them only because they produce flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Pretty much all of my plants came back, or tried to, (I have killed off a number of them.) I don't recognize the leaves that you photographed. They may be from your orchid tree. You might think of looking at other parts of your garden to see if there are more like them. I would be tempted to pull one leaf out to see if it is attached to a fairly developed root structure. Trees usually throw out a pretty extensive root system before they show much greenery on top....See MoreHow to trim or train Hong Kong Orchid Trees
Comments (18)There are a lot of half-truths in this thread, and some plain misinformation sprinkled in. First, the idea that certain fertilizer types promote root growth is a fallacy. If anything, fertilizing a new transplant, or one that has been in its permanent home for just a year or two or three, will actually retard root system expansion. One way to think of this is that the roots are "looking" for nutrients, so a heavy-handed approach where too much of these nutrients are placed in the root zone actually causes less growth, not more. Then, there's the staking of young plants: Tree saplings develop something called reaction wood in response to being buffeted by the wind. Stake it tightly to some rod or stick and you've eliminated the opportunity for this to happen. Doesn't mean no stakes ever, but especially any items tied tightly so the trunk can't move around are to be avoided...and anything used must come off after the first year. Then there's the idea that somehow by pruning, we can mold the plant into a shape it's not otherwise genetically programmed to adopt. While there's a dab of truth in this one, it is the wrong road to take. Somebody up above at least stated the obvious-that young plants need all the foliage they can have to produce their food via photosynthesis. And that same process causes chemicals called auxins, developed in growing shoot tips, to send signals to the roots to grow. Constantly messing with this process just confuses things. Very basically stated, if you want a tree that produces mostly an upright growth habit, select a species or cultivar of a species which is genetically programmed to grow in that fashion. Trying to beat a horse into an elephant is bound to cause frustration, and the same applies here in the plant world. Now this is not at all to say one should never prune their trees. I myself have pruned perhaps a half-million plants in my time! But there are proper techniques here, just as one wouldn't try to carve a turkey without a clue what they are doing. Very generally, a moderate program of "raising up", which simply means removing lower branches can be done, but gradually please. If one is impatient and tries to do this all at once, the very likely response by that plant is to sucker like mad. Basically, when plant parts are removed, the plant responds by trying to reestablish those plant parts. So go ahead and take all kinds of branches off your tree....and the tree will simply start a bunch of new branches. We call those new branches suckers, and many of them will grow right straight up through the tree canopy, rubbing against other more well-placed branches, or throwing the crown balance off, or competing with the main leader. These are all undesirable outcomes. Pruning trees is not simpleton stuff. Why anyone would undertake it without knowing what they're doing is beyond me, except for the monkey see-monkey do factor. Let's not do our gardening by that method! +oM...See More
dreamindecor
11 years agoHere's the full tree - it was too tall for frost cloth. I don't know if that's a graft line. I'm sad that the main trunk seems to be gone. Guess I'll try to grow it as a shrub.
Haname
11 years agodreamindecor
10 years agoUpdate - Here we are - one year later. It grew like crazy over the past year, survived the winter and is in full bloom. I've been told Hong Kong Orchids often shed their leaves in early Spring, but that didn't happen here.
ra
10 years agodreamindecor
10 years agokevininphx
10 years ago
Lori Reed
9 years agodreamindecor
8 years agoAaaaaaand THREE years later, here's the fully rebounded tree - full of purple orchid flowers. (Glad I read my previous post that the tree often loses its leaves in early Spring 'cause I was stressing about why a lot of the leaves were turning yellow and falling off!)
The one thing I DISLIKE about this tree is that it has seed pods. I remember asking when I bought it whether it had pods or not and the nursery ASSURED me that it didn't. Sigh....
Eric Rogers
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoThats awesome. i planted one last week and i live in Gilbert. How much water would you guess it receives daily?
lazy_gardens
8 years agodreamindecor
8 years ago
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