Cedrela fissilis

[JasonD]

San Marcos Growers, in Santa Barbara, California, offers this tree species from time to time. Specimens in the city of Santa Barbara have done well, especially as street trees. Its habitat ranges as far south as northern Argentina, Paraguay, and southern Brazil. For us in coastal central California and the SF Bay Area, some plants from this region thrive while others suffer from lack of summer heat.

Does anyone in cooler climates have experience growing this tree? I know Santa Barbara would seem comparable to the Bay Area, but they get significantly warmer weather and less wind in summer and their winters are sunnier and drier than San Francisco and nearby fog-belt cities.

[fastfeat]

I think that this is best as a cool-climate tree. They do well in coastal Orange County, and there are trees at The Huntington and LASCA have trees as well, but I suspect they'll perform better as one goes northward. Not sure how they'll respond to constant coastal wind, however. (Not a problem in Santa Barbara's southward orientation).

I've sent seeds to Ben in NZ; not sure if they've sprouted or their progress.

Worthless in SoFla; struggled to grow 6"/year. Dumped a bunch of 5s at my nursery in Loxahatchee.

Edited February 3, 2012 by fastfeat

[JasonD]

Thanks very much. Very helpful perspective you offer. I'd like to see it used up here, possibly as a street tree.

Cedrela salvadorensis grows like a weed here in SF, but seems to be rather a different beast. Its surface roots rival those of a ficus, while SMG touts the well-behaved roots of C. fissilis.

[Bennz]

Cedrela salvadorensis grows like a weed here in SF, but seems to be rather a different beast. Its surface roots rival those of a ficus, while SMG touts the well-behaved roots of C. fissilis.

Hi Jason,

I've got some seedlings, kindly sent by Ken. Unfortunately they have not performed as well as I'd hoped, they tend to die back from the leaflets. I'm not sure what the problem is, looks almost like something is eating them, but I cant identify what it might be, and a cage plus slug/snail bait is not helping. I'm anticipating they should grow well here, if I can get them past this seedling stage. Possibly though Australian provenances of Toona ciliata (australis) might prove better for my intended timber end use.

Cedrela salvadorensis sounds interesting, I don't mind wild roots at all!

[JasonD]

Cedrela salvadorensis grows like a weed here in SF, but seems to be rather a different beast. Its surface roots rival those of a ficus, while SMG touts the well-behaved roots of C. fissilis.

Hi Jason,

I've got some seedlings, kindly sent by Ken. Unfortunately they have not performed as well as I'd hoped, they tend to die back from the leaflets. I'm not sure what the problem is, looks almost like something is eating them, but I cant identify what it might be, and a cage plus slug/snail bait is not helping. I'm anticipating they should grow well here, if I can get them past this seedling stage. Possibly though Australian provenances of Toona ciliata (australis) might prove better for my intended timber end use.

Cedrela salvadorensis sounds interesting, I don't mind wild roots at all!

The salvadorensis have not bloomed yet despite their impressive size here. Someday we might have seeds to share...

[JasonD]

Cedrela salvadorensis grows like a weed here in SF, but seems to be rather a different beast. Its surface roots rival those of a ficus, while SMG touts the well-behaved roots of C. fissilis.

Hi Jason,

I've got some seedlings, kindly sent by Ken. Unfortunately they have not performed as well as I'd hoped, they tend to die back from the leaflets. I'm not sure what the problem is, looks almost like something is eating them, but I cant identify what it might be, and a cage plus slug/snail bait is not helping. I'm anticipating they should grow well here, if I can get them past this seedling stage. Possibly though Australian provenances of Toona ciliata (australis) might prove better for my intended timber end use.

Cedrela salvadorensis sounds interesting, I don't mind wild roots at all!

Randomly found our discussion and wondered re your timber production whether you've tried Acacia koa? High-altitude (1980m ASL) collections are beginning to perform well in the San Francisco Bay Area.