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Lichen on Magnolia Stellata
ELLEN ANDREWS
Posts: 1
in Talkback
Can lichen be removed from a magnolia Stellata. Last year there were few flowers, don't think there will be any at all this year and very few leaves. The tree is covered in lichen and it seems to be killing it.
0
Posts
Lichen is a sign of clear air but poor ventilation and is unlikely to be killing your tree. I have it on all my blackcurrant bushes now that they have a windbreak to protect them form sharp northerly winds and they flower and fruit with gay abandon every year.
It's more likely to be a problem of malnutrition or some other sickness in the magnolia. Try forking some pelleted chicken manure and a generous dollop of some soil conditioner for ericaceous plants around the root base. Give it a liquid feed of sequestered iron in case it is anaemic and, when the leaves come, a foliar spray feed made from 15ml of Epsom salts dissolved in 5 litres of water which will deal with any magnesium deficiency.
Then it's a case of wait and see if it responds.
I'm not sure lichen has ever been proven to kill an otherwise healthy shrub.
I'd follow obelixx's advice.
I live in Devon and if you stand still long enough, you'll have lichen growing on you.
I'm not sure about the poor ventilation, though we do have cleaner air, I don't think anywhere in my windy Pennine garden could possibly count as poorly ventilated; (I told my OH the other day that if we had our own windturbine we would have had free heating and electric all this winter
) and my magnolia is decorated with the most beautiful frilly lichen. I think some plants are more hospitable to it than others as both magnolias and the cherry tree have it, but other plants of similar age do not, or only the flatter, splodgy kinds rather than those with a treelike formation. What we do have though is a high rainfall, so generally high humidity, which may be what helps it develop.