Author Topic: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone  (Read 66554 times)

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #650 on: August 19, 2021, 01:34:49 PM »
Great preliminary results Simon! Blaze the trail brother.

So, what are thoughts on these regarding gender:

3 seedlings from Nate. They look the same to me, with the top one being a little smaller. Thinking 2+ maybe male.


Biqi with rootstock, which looks like it could be male to me, with big leaves and vigorous growth.


Biqi trio. Reuniting, it feels so good.


Rob, the rootstock suckers from the grafted trees from China are different. The rootstock suckers will require DNA testing because there is no control plant to compare it against. Those rootstock suckers are extremely vigorous because they are older seedlings with a mature root system. Also, there was at least one article I read somewhere that mentioned that in China, they sometimes use wild Yangmei seedlings as rootstocks because they were more vigorous.

My Biqi rootstock suckers are crazy vigorous and the biggest of the three have grown about two feet long already with 7+ inch long leaves

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #651 on: August 19, 2021, 01:45:47 PM »
I should also mention that sex guesstimating is just a guess and you should get your plants tested to confirm. The seedlings are random seeds and some of the seedlings may just have the genetic advantages of accelerated growth or some of the seedlings may come from larger seeds which may or may not give it more energy to grow faster. Some varieties like DongKui are very large and have correspondingly larger seeds compared to Biqi which is a smaller fruit with smaller seeds.

I’m just trying to say that you shouldn’t be too surprised if your more vigorous seedling turns out to be female or if your weaker seedling is a male.

It’s kinda funny that many of us from this recent group buy are hoping that we get a male seedling or rootstock sucker so that we have a pollinator for our grafted females.

On the Facebook group, most the people are trying to get females because they ordered one sexed male and one sexed female from Marta and everyone’s females died out.

Simon

roblack

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #652 on: August 19, 2021, 02:37:53 PM »
I should also mention that sex guesstimating is just a guess and you should get your plants tested to confirm. The seedlings are random seeds and some of the seedlings may just have the genetic advantages of accelerated growth or some of the seedlings may come from larger seeds which may or may not give it more energy to grow faster. Some varieties like DongKui are very large and have correspondingly larger seeds compared to Biqi which is a smaller fruit with smaller seeds.

I’m just trying to say that you shouldn’t be too surprised if your more vigorous seedling turns out to be female or if your weaker seedling is a male.

It’s kinda funny that many of us from this recent group buy are hoping that we get a male seedling or rootstock sucker so that we have a pollinator for our grafted females.

On the Facebook group, most the people are trying to get females because they ordered one sexed male and one sexed female from Marta and everyone’s females died out.

Simon

Good points. Lots of assumptions being made without solid evidence. Not a gambler, but fun trying to pick right and roll the dice.

With dioecious species, I'm always happy first to have female, then figure male out later. Since they both are necessary, probably illogical reasoning.

Seems like figuring out grafting and air layering is the key. If one group has lots of males, and the other females, could be need for a yangmei dating service. Whatever the case, the FB yangmei group could benefit from some assistance, and perhaps we could be helped by them as well.

If I don't have a male between the 3 seedlings and 3 rootstocks currently growing, would be surprised. Getting some different genetics in the mix is an interesting idea though.

sc4001992

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #653 on: August 19, 2021, 03:00:01 PM »
Ok, I'll make another guess on the seedling from Nate. I looked at my plants closer after reviewing Simon's and Rob's.

It looks like I have 2 small males and 1 small female plant. Maybe in 6 months it will show the difference more. I can see the female (?) leaves seems to look smaller than the male leaves.

roblack

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #654 on: August 19, 2021, 03:02:48 PM »
I have 6 different plants to sex with Marta. Can we do a group order on sexing (sounds NSFW, sorry about that)?

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #655 on: August 19, 2021, 03:42:53 PM »
I already contacted Marta since I have gathered 11 plants that are ready to be sexed but Marta said it’s too hot now and she wanted me to wait till Fall to send in the samples.

She processes them in minimum orders of 10 samples. She may be able to process fewer samples but it will likely be more expensive.

I would really like to know the sex of my plants now since my grafts are looking so promising. I have special transportation bags made of Mylar that reflects heat that I can use to protect the samples from heat damage but she’s the expert so I’ll gladly wait till Fall.

Simon

Seanny

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #656 on: August 22, 2021, 04:56:21 PM »



This rootstock didn’t  like being in full sun and against a brown shed.
I moved it.

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #657 on: August 24, 2021, 12:33:09 PM »
At least the rootstock is still alive. Several people on the Yangmei group advised that these trees be planted into the ground sooner rather than later. It’s easier to control the perched water table in ground as opposed to a pot.

Once I’m done with my experiments, I’m going to stick my trees into the ground.

Simon

sc4001992

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #658 on: August 24, 2021, 12:36:57 PM »
If you plant them in ground, what do you think is the best spot, direct sun, partial shade, or shade only ?

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #659 on: August 24, 2021, 04:23:05 PM »
I’m going to plant mine in full sun but I’m going to build a shade structure over it. I will need the shade to protect the young trees from excessive heat. If temps are below 90F I probably won’t even use the shade. This is after I adapt the trees to full sun.

For most of the year, I don’t intend to use the shade but a shade structure may be useful when the trees begin fruiting. Once the fruit begin to form, a shade structure can prevent desiccation and hold in a bit more humidity and increase fruit quality.

It’s better to have a shade structure ready and not need it rather than needing it and not having it.

Simon

roblack

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #660 on: August 25, 2021, 03:16:06 PM »
My fears have actualized; turns out parrots enjoy yangmei.


Seanny

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #661 on: August 25, 2021, 03:21:22 PM »
Grow more to feed that parrot.

roblack

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #662 on: August 25, 2021, 03:36:10 PM »
Need to grow more furniture too. She eats that as well. Not much she doesn't eat.

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #663 on: August 26, 2021, 05:16:01 PM »
Haha, pretty bird. Its got salad to munch on while it waits for those darn Yangmei to fruit. Oh Rob, you think you have issues now, wait till you get fruit in the coming years.

Simon

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #664 on: August 29, 2021, 08:41:03 PM »
Thanks Simon!

Yep, saw a couple of pairs of macaws fly over yesterday, and hear them often. If they catch on to the yangmei, going to be a problem. Hopefully they'll save some for me.

Popped this puppy in ground finally. Watering and shading a bit. If it handles the limestone well, will add a friend soon.


simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #665 on: August 29, 2021, 10:38:51 PM »
Hey Rob,

Looking good so far!

I severed my approach graft last night and I’m really hoping I didn’t kill it. It was approach grafted on 07/11/21 and completely severed/removed on 08/28/21 so approximately 7 weeks from start to finish. I usually leave my approach grafts on for 3-4 months but I want to see what the minimum amount of time required is.

The approach grafted Biqi scion has secondary branches sprouting out but they were already pushing when still attached to the Biqi plant. If this approach graft fails, I should know in about two weeks or less. The scion is so huge that the small union will not be able to support the large scion for very long if the graft failed.



Simon

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #666 on: September 05, 2021, 05:52:14 PM »
Hope everyone’s plants are doing well. It’s 107 at my place right now. I have dead corn stalks protecting my plant from Marta and a couple of M. ceriferas. Hope it turns out okay.

My grafted californica finally died though. I think it’s from my outdoor sink water pouring directly over the plant. I must have moved the pipe there by mistake recently.

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #667 on: September 24, 2021, 01:27:18 AM »
Hey Fang,

My approach grafted Biqi Yangmei onto M. Californica rootstock was successful. The graft union was completely severed about 3 weeks ago and the secondary shoots are elongating and the leaves are expanding.

Grafting Yangmei is a pain in the rear. I tried to pull some nice buds from my Biqi tree and removing a few buds was enough to damage the branch to the point where the branch snapped in half where I removed the buds. The branches are pretty brittle if you try to push the growth too much.

Here’s a picture of my Biqi after removing about 12-14 inches off the ends of the longest branches for my grafting experiments.





Simon

roblack

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #668 on: September 24, 2021, 09:01:24 AM »
Amazing growth Simon! Your plant looks very healthy.

How often do you fert?

Mine are way behind.

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #669 on: September 24, 2021, 09:19:24 AM »
Hey Rob,

I fertilize at a minimum once every 2 weeks after I’ve used up the nutrients in the soil. I’m currently using a 50/50 mixture of Foxfarm Ocean Forest/Happy Frog for my soil mix and it has a lot of fertilizer in it already so when I first transplant into my new soil, I don’t fertilize for the first month to 6 weeks because the nutrients in the soil can easily sustain it.

If you fertilize when there’s still a lot of nutrients in the soil, you can burn your plants. I have a couple Yangmei grafted onto M. Californica growing in Promix HP/BX and these have little or no added fertilizer so I would fertilize these with Osmocote Plus as a staple fertilizer and then give it chelated iron whenever the leaves start yellowing.

If you want to encourage Frankia actinomycetes, giving your tree less Nitrogen may encourage faster colonization but your leaves will be more chlorotic because Yangmei seems to like Nitrogen.

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #670 on: September 24, 2021, 05:03:10 PM »
Here’s a quick update on my Yangmei seedlings from Nate. When I received them around July 15, they were approximately 3 inches tall, to see a picture of how they looked when I first received them, check out Page 24, reply # 584. They have been growing for about 2.5 months now and the tallest seedling is between 15-17 inches tall with the largest leaves almost 8 inches long.

Two of the bigger plants are about twice the size of the smallest plant with one tree being intermediate in size.

I should have up potted these trees 2-3 weeks ago but have been too busy, hopefully they’ll be up potted by next week. Secondary branches are growing nicely on these seedlings.





Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #671 on: September 24, 2021, 05:06:36 PM »
More pics of seedlings




Hmm, something wrong with post image, I can only upload 2 pictures at a time

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #672 on: September 24, 2021, 05:27:56 PM »
More









Simon

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #673 on: October 17, 2021, 04:26:17 PM »
Heres the latest on my biqi.  It started to flush then got hit with a dry wind the other day it looks like a few soft leaves curled up abut otherwise seems ok.  Just growing slowly.  Havent done anything to it since planting it. 



Brad Spaugh

simon_grow

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Re: Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order - trees all gone
« Reply #674 on: October 17, 2021, 04:27:12 PM »
Here’s a 3 month update of my Yangmei seedlings from Nate. The tallest plant has grown from 3inches to over 24 inches. The seedlings are also producing multiple secondary branches that are growing extremely fast. They were growing in a #1 pot and I just transplanted them into a #2 pot. <br /><br />
Rootball of seedlings after removal from #1 pot<br /><br />

Simon