Michelia X Alba Question

[epicure3]

I have a large 20' specimen that is currently flowering. As a matter of fact, I have never seen that many flowers on the tree before. That's the good news. The bad news is that it is shedding an enormous amount of leaves almost on a daily basis. I have to beleive that it is stressed in some way. It gets a lot of water, but no more than it has any other summer it has been there. Any idea as to what is happening? The inner layers of the tree seem to be the most impacted. You can see up into the tree now, where you couldn't before. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thx

[ariscott]

Mine never drops its leaves, although mine is hardly flowering size. I hope it is not on suicide mission....

Regards, Ari

[daxin]

Michelia X Alba tends to drop a lot of old leaves right before a new flush of growth, especially the first flush in spring. In fact, since the flowers are only present on new growth, gardeners in China pick old leaves 2-3 times a year to suppress vegetative growth for more flowers. This is similar in principle to how grapes are grown. If your tree has been vigorously growing for awhile, its canopy could also grow too dense in the middle. You will need to thin out the branches a little bit.

If the outer leaves are droopy even in the morning, your tree is probably not getting enough water. One possibility is that a bigger canopy needs more water, and sometimes an organic-rich soil can develop air pockets that make roots lose contact with soil. You can poke around the root zone with a stake and feel if there is any void underneath. If there are empty spaces, you can wiggle the stake to open them up and fill in with more soil.

Another possibility is some kind of root damage, most often from too much water but can also be salt built-up or excessive fertilizer. You can dig around and see if the feeder roots are rotting. If this is the case, you need to stop watering in the first case and clear out any mulch/ground cover underneath to let the soil dry out so that new roots can grow. If it is the other case you will need to flush the soil with a lot of water. You can also spray the leaves with anti-perspirant such as Cloud Cover to help your tree to recover. Root rot is the number one killer of Michelia X Alba since its roots are very fleshy.

Good luck with your Alba. It is my favorite fragrant plant. At least you do not have to worry about deadly frost as much as we do up here.

[epicure3]

Michelia X Alba tends to drop a lot of old leaves right before a new flush of growth, especially the first flush in spring. In fact, since the flowers are only present on new growth, gardeners in China pick old leaves 2-3 times a year to suppress vegetative growth for more flowers. This is similar in principle to how grapes are grown. If your tree has been vigorously growing for awhile, its canopy could also grow too dense in the middle. You will need to thin out the branches a little bit.

If the outer leaves are droopy even in the morning, your tree is probably not getting enough water. One possibility is that a bigger canopy needs more water, and sometimes an organic-rich soil can develop air pockets that make roots lose contact with soil. You can poke around the root zone with a stake and feel if there is any void underneath. If there are empty spaces, you can wiggle the stake to open them up and fill in with more soil.

Another possibility is some kind of root damage, most often from too much water but can also be salt built-up or excessive fertilizer. You can dig around and see if the feeder roots are rotting. If this is the case, you need to stop watering in the first case and clear out any mulch/ground cover underneath to let the soil dry out so that new roots can grow. If it is the other case you will need to flush the soil with a lot of water. You can also spray the leaves with anti-perspirant such as Cloud Cover to help your tree to recover. Root rot is the number one killer of Michelia X Alba since its roots are very fleshy.

Good luck with your Alba. It is my favorite fragrant plant. At least you do not have to worry about deadly frost as much as we do up here.

Very helpful info. Thanks. I am very sure that it is not a lack of water. I would be surprised if it is too much water, but still a possibility. I tend to walk underneath the tree to pick up the leaves and I wonder if that might even cause some damage to the roots since they are known to very shallow. I will also remove the mulch and see if that helps. Might be too moist under that mulch cover. Thanks again!

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

Any pictures?

[epicure3]

Not recent. But I'll take one and get it up in the next day.