Yangmei (Morella/Myrica rubra) thread

[Kankan]

Looks good Simon. What % take did you have grafting yangmei? Im about %25.

[simon_grow]

I get about 90% take’s depending on the season.

Simon

[SHV]

Decided to drop my Crystal Yang into the ground with the cooler weather upon us and a bunch of new growth popping. This is the only one I have been able to keep alive so it better survive damnit.  It’s been a week, so far so good.   No germination yet from the Calmei seeds that I planted a couple months back.

[K-Rimes]

This one is in one of the best spots on the entire property. It used to have a cherimoya but it died, it seems to be doing pretty well.


This one has been in ground for some months, hasn't grown much at all but I see some promising signs at the nodes.

[simon_grow]

Those two seedlings look pretty happy. If you can get them to flush once or twice, you’ll probably be out of the woods.

Simon

[Kankan]

I get about 90% take’s depending on the season.

Simon

Wow! Any lessons learned? I've come to appreciate the value of fresh scions but other than that not sure what drives uo the success rate...

[dadloring]

So far these guys have been much more difficult then I first thought, but slowly learning to keep them happy.

I've been using approach graft onto californica roots with great success. I had 2 mothers to start this spring and am up to 6 plants now and gonna set up a few more grafts this week.

[simon_grow]

I get about 90% take’s depending on the season.

Simon

Wow! Any lessons learned? I've come to appreciate the value of fresh scions but other than that not sure what drives uo the success rate...

The freshness of the scion and the health and stage of growth for rootstock are the two major factors but all the other factors that affect any type of grafts are also very important. When I graft, I think in terms of energy. I prefer to graft onto the dominant branches because there is more sap flow going to the apically dominant branches. If I graft onto a non-apically dominant branch, I will often cut off or shorten nearby branches in order to make the branch I just grafted onto the most dominant branch.

About a week or two after grafting is when the callous tissue normally starts growing rapidly in order to form the new union and this coincides with a growth flush that normally occurs at this time due to the removal of nearby apically dominant branches. With this growth flush, lots of new buds will appear and you can significantly decrease the odds of your grafts taking if you don’t remove these buds. This is one of the major mistakes I see grafters make.

Simon

[simon_grow]

Hey everyone, please post here if/when you notice blooms on your plants. Last year, I had my female blooms open up around the end of January for An Hai and Dongkui. I’m trying to trend this data so that we can match male pollinators with female blooms.

Your location and variety is important information as well. Areas with higher heat units and a higher daily light integral will likely get earlier fruit and the cooler areas with lower DLI’s will probably give us the later harvests but I would like to keep track of these data points.

Since many of our male trees are seedlings, they may have a wide range of bloom times. I would love to track when the buds first start forming, when they open their blooms and how long the bloom period is. Same goes for the female trees.

The regular vegetative buds look more pointed and the flower buds are more oval and have pine cone like bracts that look like mini hops buds. See page 15 of this thread for a pic of female buds from last year.

If everyone tracks their data here, we can trend the data to help everyone grow and fertilize our trees more efficiently and also potentially increase our yields by having the right combination of male and female varieties for best cross pollination and potentially an extended harvest season by planting/grafting early and late season male/female combinations. Thanks in advance!

Simon

[shaneatwell]

Biqi seedling. Fruited last year. Carlsbad, CA. 4 miles from the coast. This is from the part of the tree that has flowered last couple years. 2-3 times a year. Looks like flower buds to me.

[shaneatwell]

Biqi seedling. Fruited last year. Carlsbad, CA. 4 miles from the coast. This is from the part of the tree that has flowered last couple years. 2-3 times a year. Looks like flower buds to me.

Putative male branch grafted a few months ago:

[simon_grow]

Nice Shane,

Your tree is large and hopefully you’ll get a bunch of fruit this coming year.

Here’s a picture of what a typical vegetative bud looks like.




Simon

[Kankan]

Biqi seedling. Fruited last year. Carlsbad, CA. 4 miles from the coast. This is from the part of the tree that has flowered last couple years. 2-3 times a year. Looks like flower buds to me.

Putative male branch grafted a few months ago:

Hopefully 2024 flowers show it to be a male! The mother plant of those grafts is the fastest grower out of all my yangmei and came as a male so Im betting it is!

[Jaboticaba45]

Hey, how is everyon'e yangmei doing?



I planted out my last ruansi and pennyslvanica. I am content now. I really don't need every variety either, I will be happy with what I have.


After growing many many yangmeis, I have learned two things.
1. These are extremely easy to grow.
2. They are hardy to around 15f or lower.
If you can grow loquats, citrus, and olives, then you can grow this.
I expect to hear fruiting reports in the next year or so given how quickly they grow.

Much respect to the people on the grind like Simon and Kevin.
Hats off to them.

I believe the best area to grow yangmei in the eastern US would be south GA and north FL. Some start up a yangmei farm there. I'm sure you could turn up a decent profit if you know what you're doing.

[BloomAndSprout]

I'm in the same zone as you. Do you think it can handle short dips to 10F or otherwise thrive in 7b?

[Jaboticaba45]

I'm in the same zone as you. Do you think it can handle short dips to 10F or otherwise thrive in 7b?

Yes, I had mine take 9f as tiny trees.
I have no idea if it will mess with flowering and fruiting cycles like loquat.
Growers in zone 7 should be able to make it happen with a bit of protection and luck.

[dolomis]

where do you guys aquire these plants?

 i found one seller that had grafted 4-6 ft of different varities but they completed dissappeared from the internet it seems.

[RevivalR00ts]

where do you guys aquire these plants?

 i found one seller that had grafted 4-6 ft of different varities but they completed dissappeared from the internet it seems.

I, along with several others, imported several varieties from China, and have been offered on here and eBay. There have been a few group buys (can be found on here). The group buys, in my opinion, have been a disappointment. Several people have had great success from what they got out of the group buys, but that percentage is low.

[BloomAndSprout]

There's a guy on Facebook marketplace selling them who was the guy originally on Etsy, but the price is high. He's probably on here since, well, who isn't? The Yangmei had its leaves fall off which is not abnormal after shipping but is always a "wait-and_see" thing, the kadsura dropped leaves too but has new growth buds. The kadsura was definitely worth the price I paid, I was really impressed with the kadsura actually.  Jason on this forum is selling Yangmei now again too per a very recent post, probably from the same source based on varieties offered, I sent a PM inquiring as I really want multiple Yangmei trees. 

I live in the same zone as Jaboticaba45 (what an absolutely impressive young man he is compared to most of the other Gen Zers I know with no hobbies) and am wanting to get these growing here, perhaps in-ground if possible.  7b can be an irritating zone to grow in because it's right at the cusp of where many of tropical/subtropical plants get killed, though it sounds like these things may be cold hardier than suspected.

The lack of males is a real disappointment.  I have a bunch of seeds in cold strat now...

[Mango Stein]

After skimming a couple of articles on Myrica phylogeny and seeing the Bayesian dendrograms, I thought I would summarize the relatedness of the main spp. to Myrica rubra. This information might be useful for rootstock grafting, since I suspect there is too much intrageneric separation in a pantemperate genus as this for universal compatibility.

1. M. adenophora
2. M. nana
3. M. esculenta & M. integrifolia
4. M. caroliniensis, cerifera, pensylvanica, quercifolia & spathulata
5. M. gale & hartwegii

[joe_OC]

I've personally have seen someone's Yangmei collection.  No, they are not on the forum.  All of his trees have fruit.  I was looking for a "male" tree, but he confirmed that all of his trees have fruit.   Here is what I found online about the differences in the inflorescence:




I will look for the inflos to confirm that they are both on the same plant.

[BloomAndSprout]

I've personally have seen someone's Yangmei collection.  No, they are not on the forum.  All of his trees have fruit.  I was looking for a "male" tree, but he confirmed that all of his trees have fruit.   Here is what I found online about the differences in the inflorescence:




I will look for the inflos to confirm that they are both on the same plant.

Out of curiosity, if he has a decent collection with fruit, can this person give their opinions about the varieties they have and which ones they prefer?

[K-Rimes]

I had a bunch of yangmei seedlings in pots that I didn't want to deal with anymore so I just planted them willy nilly around the yard to see if one works out. Doubled up one planting where the first one wasn't looking so hot.

[Pneuma]

Out of the first 10 I got one Biqi is holding on strong.
 
This next 10 are in way better shape time of year prolly making a huge difference in plant health dongkui, white dongkui, yingsi, Wusu, Wuzi



Thanks to y’all in the Yangmei gang keeping me motivated through the struggles hahaha

[simon_grow]

Wow, I can’t believe all the new varieties everyone has. It’s going to be awesome when we start fruiting these and comparing Flavor Profiles, Brix, Production, Season, Size, etc…

Many of the varieties I’m growing are starting to bloom. Here’s a couple pictures of my early Hermaphrodite buds.





Simon