Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Mar 25, 2012 11:02 am Hello, I need some advice on what is going on with my magnolia and how I can fix it. Some Background: Transplanted last May when it still had leaves on went through the year great; grew a bit and had some flowers towards Nov/Dec then it lost its leaves.. now it is looking like this. (Excuse the weeds there are so many I cant keep up!) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Is it normal? I feed it seasol and powerfeed every two weeks and water it regularly. It is about 3 years old now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 2Mar 26, 2012 12:45 am It might just be a little out of whack with the seasons, have you experienced any unusual weather conditions where you are? I can't see any dead wood in your picture, is there evidence of pests...? (curled leaf at centre right) Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 3Mar 26, 2012 6:15 am Treeseachanger It might just be a little out of whack with the seasons, have you experienced any unusual weather conditions where you are? I can't see any dead wood in your picture, is there evidence of pests...? (curled leaf at centre right) Weather in Melbourne is always unpredictable - we haven't really had much of a warm summer. That's good there is no dead wood But I haven't seen any pests, those leaves have only just started curling but they normally go black and fall off. Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 4Mar 26, 2012 7:58 pm Hmm. Things to check: potting mix- is it a good rich mix? Did you use compost or well rotted manure? Maybe it doesn't like the soil in the new pot or very important, there isn't enough drainage. It needs good drainage. It also likes a slightly acidic mix. Watering- curl can indicate lack of water, were the leaves curled before they dropped? Do you hand water every day or nearly every day through summer to early autumn? Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 5Apr 02, 2012 8:49 pm Treeseachanger Hmm. Things to check: potting mix- is it a good rich mix? Did you use compost or well rotted manure? Maybe it doesn't like the soil in the new pot or very important, there isn't enough drainage. It needs good drainage. It also likes a slightly acidic mix. Watering- curl can indicate lack of water, were the leaves curled before they dropped? Do you hand water every day or nearly every day through summer to early autumn? Sorry for the late reply, I didn't get a notification - potting mix- is it a good rich mix? Did you use compost or well rotted manure? - I used a good soil mix- I didn't have any compost ready. Maybe it doesn't like the soil in the new pot or very important, there isn't enough drainage. - It's in the ground not a pot. It had been in the ground for 7 months before this problem started. It needs good drainage. - It does have clay surrounding it so maybe the roots are not getting what they need.. It also likes a slightly acidic mix. -I didn't know that -- I will get an additive next time at bunnings Watering- curl can indicate lack of water, were the leaves curled before they dropped? - Yes I think the leaves went brown and curled before falling off. Do you hand water every day or nearly every day through summer to early autumn? - Summer wasn't that hot here so I watered only when i needed to. Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 6Apr 02, 2012 11:45 pm Sorry, it looked to me as if it was in a pot with a red rim! (perspective is everything!) The roots might actually be choking in the clay. Perhaps you should dig it out and put it into a pot with good drainage and nurse it along until it recovers fully, eventually replant after conditioning the soil with gypsum, which breaks up clay, makes it more friable. Old sheep or cow manure can help as well. Or create a garden mound with well drained soil and compost, make the mound deep enough to give the roots plenty of drainage and air space. (Mounds add visual interest to a garden as well, and eliminate digging into hard clay!) Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 7Apr 07, 2012 5:19 pm Treeseachanger Sorry, it looked to me as if it was in a pot with a red rim! (perspective is everything!) The roots might actually be choking in the clay. Perhaps you should dig it out and put it into a pot with good drainage and nurse it along until it recovers fully, eventually replant after conditioning the soil with gypsum, which breaks up clay, makes it more friable. Old sheep or cow manure can help as well. Or create a garden mound with well drained soil and compost, make the mound deep enough to give the roots plenty of drainage and air space. (Mounds add visual interest to a garden as well, and eliminate digging into hard clay!) Sorry again for late reply, The mound sounds like a great idea because at the moment I cant see us getting very deep and we tried for hours to dig a hole this big! I will take it out tomorrow and will update how it is looking. If it doesn't get healthy by mid winter do you think it is too far gone? Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 8Apr 09, 2012 3:15 pm It will be in dormancy (resting stage) in mid winter. If should survive if drainage has been improved, and it doesn't fall prey to pests or disease. However only already healthy plants can resist pests and diseases so try to replant it as soon as you can and see how it goes. Good luck!! Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 9Apr 09, 2012 4:23 pm Treeseachanger It will be in dormancy (resting stage) in mid winter. If should survive if drainage has been improved, and it doesn't fall prey to pests or disease. However only already healthy plants can resist pests and diseases so try to replant it as soon as you can and see how it goes. Good luck!! Hi Treeseachanger, I don't understand as this magnolia has always had leaves in winter then dropped it leaves in summer in time for flowering.. I see that in other magnolias around the area too.. Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 10Apr 09, 2012 5:54 pm Yeah, something bad is definitely happening. One last thing: are the roots healthy looking? You might try washing them well before replanting in case when you moved it they've hit some builder's lime or other chemicals in that spot, something they buried during construction. But this magnolia is normally quite slow growing so I'm not sure if that is actually part of it as well or not . . . Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 11Apr 09, 2012 6:04 pm Treeseachanger Yeah, something bad is definitely happening. One last thing: are the roots healthy looking? You might try washing them well before replanting in case when you moved it they've hit some builder's lime or other chemicals in that spot, something they buried during construction. But this magnolia is normally quite slow growing so I'm not sure if that is actually part of it as well or not . . . Yeah this magnolia is very confusing.. it may have hit some builders lime but heavy clay would be the main cause. Unfortunately couldn't get outside today as it was raining.. but I am going to keep an eye on it.. Thanks for your help, Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 12Apr 13, 2012 1:40 am No worries, we will have the same challenges to deal with eventually in getting our garden going (sand and clay mix)! But first we have to deal with all the doublegees, there's thousands of 'em there. Hopefully your port wine will pull through. Re: Please Help My Magnolia Port Wine! 13Apr 13, 2012 11:58 am Victoria_g06 Yeah this magnolia is very confusing.. it may have hit some builders lime but heavy clay would be the main cause. Unfortunately couldn't get outside today as it was raining.. but I am going to keep an eye on it.. Thanks for your help, We had a problem in our front garden with plants dying and when we investigated it was due to clay - the water wasn't being allowed to escape. We have fixed the problem by adding some organic compost and reducing the water and everything is looking much happier now .... For info on our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43093 Built the McLaren by Dechellis - slab down 22 Feb - handover 30 Aug 2011 - and gardens finished 9 Dec 2012!! Well these guys are not looking good... I sent them a written enquiry last week and they have not yet replied. 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