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Poorly flowering magnolia
SLAPPYDUCK
Posts: 18
in Talkback
Our magnolia tree is well, over 30 years old, and is as tall as the top of our bedroom window. It always flowered twice yearly with an abundance of foliage and flowers. However, we have noticed over the past couple of years that the flowing has been really sparse and only once a year. This year, about 10 days ago it had only 3 flowers.
Help!
0
Posts
Hi Slappy Duck
Could you post a pic of the tree for us - we need a few clues so it would be good to see where and how it's growing.
To post a pic on here click on the green tree icon on the toolbar at the top of where you type your post, and follow the instructions - if it doesn't work give us a shout!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi Dovefromabove,
Can't open "my computer" once I have clicked on the green tree icon. Any suggestions
Hi Dovefromabove.
I am new to this forum and how to navigate around this site. Not sure if you received my request for help on uploading fotos of my magnolia tree for you to look at. Help
The ends of most high branches look dry/dead without foliage. Lots of St John's wort I think it is.
Hurrah! We have pictures
I think the first thing you should do is to clear a circle of bare soil of a metre diameter around the trunk of the tree. Grass growing up to the trunk robs the tree of much of the water and most of any nutrients that there may be.
When you've cleared the turf away give the tree a feed with Fish Blood and Bone (according to the instructions on the pack). and give it 3 buckets of water. Then mulch with a layer of well rotted farm yard manure (just don't let it touch the bark). Repeat all of this in September and again in late February.
Throughout the summer give the tree 3 buckets of water once a week. If we have a heatwave do this twice or even three times a week. Stop watering in the autumn when the leaves turn colour and fall.
Fingers crossed it'll flower much better next spring.
Continue to treat the tree the same each year and in a couple of years it'll be totally rejuvenated and flower its socks off
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi Dovefromabove!
It is September and you said to put more manure etc onto magnolia. This may seem a daft question BUT do I need to remove all the old manure before I use the fishbone and new manure??
Thanks