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How to make a Southern Magnolia grow dense

AJ Princeton NJ z6b

3 months ago

I have a few Bracken’s Brown Southern Magnolias that I planted a year ago in fall of 2022. (I am in New Jersey 6b which is now reclassified as zone 7). They are somewhat sparse. I got good blooms and some growth this past year. But the leaves are sparse. How do I make the tree grow dense with foliage

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 months ago
duplicate post..other is here: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6421116/how-to-make-a-southern-magnolia-grow-dense#n=6

tree time is counted in decades.. you have a lot of expectations during the year of transplant ,..

NEVER fert a stressed plant.. yours is probably stressed.. who knows ...

established trees.. NEVER need fertilizer.. they are trees.. not children ...

have a soil test done.. and add any soil amendments that the test dictates... no feeding for the sake of enriching the fert industry ...

you dont indicate size of transplant....

how about a few pix...

ken
Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
3 months ago
Grow a more dense variety? Like Teddy Bear?
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If the OP is still curious, I can post a pic of my Mag. Grandiflora, it is doing great still. I am guessing that the OP has already tried an evergreen Mag, so hasn't checked this post/subject. I will add that I tried a BBB Mag and it died on me, but the Mag. Grand. Is doing great. A friend of mine had the same tree seedling die on her because she didn't water it at all after I transplanted her 2 of them, and the wind in her yard dried it up. So with care to the seedling, water the first year or so when rain isn't there at least 2 times a week, and when you have bad winter winds, and don't help the tree out from blowing those trees out of the ground and drying them out, they will die. These seedlings were about 2 ft tall, with their evergreen large leaves in high wind, the trees literally blew out of the ground, their large leaves acting like a sail, blew em right out of the ground. I stressed the watering, but wasn't aware of the wind blowing em out of their planting hole. Mine hadn't had to face all that wind, and I watered mine often. In her defense my friend didn't know anything about trees, and has clay soil.
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They're quite different when seen in person, try looking for them at independent garden centers in your area. Then of course there is 'Kay Parris', which is from a crossing of the two others. It also is on the general market. I've seen 'Little Gem' over 40' tall in the LA area, genetically it is actually a narrow grower rather than a bushy one - the broad habit shown by so many propagules is presumably due to them coming from side branches on stock plants. And actually quite a few of these clones do go on later to start pulling themselves up into the truly characteristic shape. So it being marketed as "dwarf magnolia" isn't really apt. Although 40' is of course small for a southern magnolia, which can otherwise grow more than double that height - given enough time and an environmental setting that promotes the development of such stature. In my area the M. grandiflora cultivars presented by local retailers tend to come from this company: https://plants.monrovia.com/search?w=magnolia+grandiflora
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I used an allée of Magnolia grandifloras in order to create a privacy wall (NJ/Zone 7a/b). The ones in the picture are Edith Bogues, but further down there is Majestic Beauty and Victorias. I would say that in my area, heavy WET snows are more commonly experienced than ice storm event (those are rather rare). These varieties have been fine with the deepest and heaviest snows. They were about 2.5 feet tall when I planted them (some 15 years ago), now they are three stories tall. Over the years, there were some branches damaged that eventually regrew and filled in the canopy. The more vertically growing ones (ALTA) were horrible with snow issues, and they were cut down, or BLOWN down by wind. The wide-sprawling ones were fine with both wind and snow, again, I can't speak for ICE storm conditions, those are vicious on even deciduous trees! It's funny, I had never noticed it before, but for some reason my Majestic Beauty, and Victorias are all single-trunked, my Edith Bogues are both vigorously multiple trunking (almost reminding me of tropical banyan trees), and for the life of me, I have no idea why.
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
3 months ago
" established trees.. NEVER need fertilizer.. they are trees.. not children ..."

Anyone that has gardened extensively for any length of time should realize that statement is patently untrue!! Gardening absolutes like this simply do not exist in the real world. There can be any number of reasons why established trees may need supplemental fertilization.
ViburnumValley central KY Bluegrass z6
3 months ago
I heartily support GG's statement above.

One might state such if one were referring to seedling/mature native trees in their wild normal haunts, but it is simply way off the mark when considering non-native and exotic plants in soils and conditions way out of the ordinary/customary for those species.

I will defy any gardener to be successful with planting and growing almost any tree on a disturbed soil property - like many urban conditions and most new home lots where most A horizon soil no longer exists - without significant effort to improve soil fertility, texture, compaction, etc. Perform a COMPLETE soil test - not just NPK - and learn about general amendments to recreate quality soil conditions where they are lacking. As noted everywhere, tree roots don't stop growing at driplines, so plan to improve soil qualities and fertility throughout your property.

All plants - mature trees or otherwise - need available nutrients and moisture when going through their growth cycles, and especially if they are stressed by any number of environmental factors. Due to maintenance practices, many even undisturbed garden soils lack nitrogen at the normal level. Whether you like "... enriching the fert industry..." or prefer to go about this via more organic methods, your plants won't care if there is available N when they need it.

A very simple example: note when female plants of most of the genus Ilex are ripening their fruit. If nitrogen is not able to be adequately taken up from the soil, the plants will reallocate nitrogen from green leaves, resulting in a noticeable yellowing/lighter greening of the foliage. An appropriately timed dose of nitrogen during this period of the Holly lifecycle can ameliorate this condition.

I am a long way past my era of landscape management, but there are drips, wraiths, silhouettes, and fleeting memories of the proper terminology and practices in soil health and management. Work is involved, and rapid results are rarely effected. That's why trees should last a lifetime...
beesneeds
3 months ago
Better not tell a lot of orchard growers their established trees never need ferts, heh. A lot of orchard growers feed their trees and do get results from doing so.

I had answered the OP in their other thread too. Make sure it is getting good sun, is getting watered and fed correctly. Since it's only been in the ground for a year or so, only thing to do right now is wait for it to grow. Trees can grow fast, but they still are years in the grow instead of months like many other garden plants can be.

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