Please help I need advice about michelia alba close to a house
9 years ago
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- 9 years ago
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Indoor Michelia Alba not Growing
Comments (4)Hi, myeu. I don't have an alba now, tho I did grow one some years back, so I'm certainly not an expert. But I had some thoughts to share: When I get a nice healthy plant, even a small one, I never notice a noticeable "adjustment period". I'd say growth would usually start within a few weeks. However, most plants don't put on appreciable new growth until the weather warms up nicely. Especially needed are warm *nights*, 65 or so. How long have you been having nights that warm there? Your climate may be too dry for this, but I find many plants thrive better here outdoors in summer. They seem to know the difference between real sunshine and the thru-the-window stuff, and the warm nights give them a big boost. Real sun and the attendant warmth is going to be the #1 growth stimulant you can provide. The other thing about being outdoors is that misting isn't something you have to do with a squirt bottle. You can turn a hose mister on them several times a day, and really drench them, especially the stems. This heavy misting is the one thing that always encourages thick new growth to sprout along the stems. After several weeks of this, you'll be astounded by the new growth coming on. This really is a wonder-worker. I would also recommend a clay pot-- clay isn't magic, but it's a little more forgiving than plastic, and it keeps the roots cooler. Please don't start with fertilizers and chemicals until your plant is showing some growth. These can really hurt an ailing plant. Finally, I bought a lot from TT some years ago, but this year was disappointed with the puny plants I got from them last summer (except for one, Jasmine molle). The puniness was definitely correlated with the rareness and expensiveness of the plant. The rarer and more expensive, the punier. If your plant was weak to start with, it may take it a good sweet while to catch up. Good luck. I hope some of these comments are helpful to you....See MoreWhat can I do to stimulate more flower from Michelia alba?
Comments (7)For best blooming, Michelia alba needs full sun, but here in California we have low humidity and the leaves will show burns all over until they are mature and can shade themselves. You can see the length of the internodes (stem between leaves) is much shorter in the second photo, an indication of strong light. Eastern exposure is a good call. M. alba is also a heavy feeder. One fertilization recipe I learned from a professional grower is 4 tablespoon of fish emulsion and one tablespoon of 20-20-20 mixed in 5 gallons of water. Use that almost everytime you water during the warm months. Once a month stop feeding and do a flush with lots of water to get rid of accumulated salts. M. alba can go into a vegetative growth pattern especially when it is young. One way to stop this is to strip off some leaves at strategic times. Early in season (Feb/Mar) you can strip off most of the leaves except a few at branch tips(In some years, light frost will do that for you automatically). In August, you can remove half of the leaves after the first flush of flowers. In early winter before the tree goes dormant, maybe 1/3 of the leaves can be removed. This regime above is practised by Chinese farmers who raise M. alba for tea scenting. It is geared toward maximum flower production but it is labor intensive. Home gardeners usually do not need to bother. As the tree mature, it will bloom steadily and there will be more than enough flowers....See Moreurgent help is needed for Michelia Alba
Comments (12)Thank you all for the valuable advice. I watered it thoroughly until some water coming out from bottom. Will these leaves die eventually? Now I move it to a spot where it can get some morning sunshine then will move back later so it won't explore to the direct full sun... But I can do these moves weekends only:( I wonder how soon it can undertake the sunshine the whole day without getting sun scale. Well, by browsing here, one has a big m. Alba in his yard in the same city SF. And, my worker has it plant in the ground since day one in easy bay they got it a good deal at a street fair, I just can't simply wait for a street fair taking place in half year or so. Thus, we drove all the way to the nursery in San Jose ca to buy one. Anyway, can someone tell if it is really unhealthy & will die soon or later?? I just take this pic with the morning sun on it. By the way how to upload more than one pic within a same post?? Thanks again...See MoreMichelia Alba 911 EMERGENCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comments (6)amberlin, I suggest you repost your thread to the Fragrant Plants forum. You'll receive lots more replies there as 'Michelia Alba' is considered one of the 'benchmarks' of fragrance in the 'Fragrant Plants' forum. Anyway, to answer your question, rapid and widespread falling and yellowing of mature leaves especially when it starts at the bottom of the plant and upwards, is a sure sign of overwatering and root rot. Did you do anything to the plant like transplanting it? If you transplanted it, make sure the rootball is at the SAME or HIGHER level in the soil as in the original pot/container. Burying the rootball deep into the soil CAN kill it especially when overwatered. I can tell you now that based from my experience, once ALL of the mature leaves of 'Michelia Alba' turn yellow and SAG or DROOP, DEATH is almost as SURE AS THE SUN RISES. Any emergency procedures you do now will be of little help. In case however, you have that 'fighting spirit' to try to save the plant, (there is 30% probability that it could still 'survive'), you should dry the SOIL to the 'CORRECT' moisture level within 24 hours before the 'exponential' root rotting and decay becomes irreversible. If you can't dry the soil to the 'CORRECT' moisture level within 24 hours, better repot or transfer the plant into DRY SOIL and water VERY LIGHTLY afterwards. (DO NOT soak the soil especially soil near the rootball area). DO NOT fertilize a stressed plant like this. If you do decide to TRANSPLANT or REPOT, do take note of the proper way to position the rootball as I mentioned above. Avoid putting the stressed plant in FULL SUN while it is still in critical condition. (Especially avoid the NOON or EARLY AFTERNOON sun). Michelias are *VERY SENSITIVE* to OVERWATERING and are very succeptible to root rot. Good SOIL DRAINAGE and good WATERING HABITS are of PARAMOUNT importance. I hope you save your Michelia Alba. It hurts to lose such an excellent fragrant plant. tropical...See MoreRelated Professionals
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Embothrium I think it should be fine and if it dies I wouldn't loose any sleep over it because the scent of the flower is over rated in my opinion. Wish I got to smell the flower before I bought it. Oh well...ill just stick to fruit trees next time lol. Rhizo a lot of people have that assumption about sugarcane but no it grows in clumps and don't send out runner roots that spread like crazy. The ginger might have been a problem but I moved the tree, I don't want a headache down the road when the trunk get too big. It's now 3 feet from the fence.. Hopefully that's enough room for the trunk to grow.
- 9 years ago
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Thach MonkOriginal Author