2022 Second Yangmei (Myrica Rubra) Group Order(Tentative)

[Tustinfruitnerd]

You blink and all of a sudden there are leaves!

Looking good. What temperature did you keep your trees at? I had wrapped mine in parafilm and they were all doing really well with the buds swelling.  Then, I noticed some issues with mold forming so I unwrapped all of them and moved them outside.  They really did not respond well to that even though I misted them down periodically.  They've been doing much better since I've covered them with plastic bags and now that the  temperature has been in the low 80s.  They've stated to push bud and I can almost see tiny leaves.

[roblack]

Seeing little buds on WuSu.

3 other trees not showing anything yet.

Mine are on a covered porch outside. No bag or wrapping, but I do mist them several times per day and our humidity is high.

Using Ocean Forest.

[nattyfroootz]

I've got one Wusu pushing leaves. A couple of the Black Carbon are budding up nice too.

[K-Rimes]

I'll have to check mine again tonight, getting some good small buds on the Biqi "Male", and some small buds on the Black Crystals too, but some branch die back as well, just the thin stuff. I was unfortunately away from home and my humidifier ran out of water for awhile... That's probably why the branches died back. Biqi "Female" still showing nothing but bark is green

[slopat]

Black Crystals.

Top picture in clear plastic bag, bottom wrapped in parafilm M.  Top picture is blurry since i didn't want to "untape" the bag from pot.

Still in the peat Kevin potted them in. The past few days of warmer weather must have helped move them along.

Should have bought 3, to test a wrapped and bagged

[nattyfroootz]

Just grafted up a bunch of my plants onto different rootstock.  It looks like most varieties are starting to bud up with the exception of the Late Growing.  I have some buds showing on the really thick Biqi so pretty happy to see that. 

I'm feeling hopeful that my grafts with swelling buds will have a good amount of energy to push a good take? We'll see.

[bill_bayarea]

 I received lots of inquires asking if I can organize have another order.
 
 The answer is "No" for now,  since weather is getting warm, if we start a third round now, we might have missed the best plant growing timing. But likely, it will be in this winter again.

 To be honest, I have been a little bit depressed and disappointed about outcome of the second round group order. In order to give big trees to everyone, I combined some varieties from another grower, however, some types of nematode bugs were unexpectedly also brought in.

  Some other positive feedback from first round group buy made me cheer up a little bit. Tun from Florida called me today asking if there are more threes available for buy, 3 of his 4 trees he ordered are growing leaves now, even he was among the group who received the latest batch of shipping; Joyce in the bay area reported that all her 6 trees have started to push out, a couple of other members in the Yangmei growing group in the different regions also have seen the sign of success.
 
  I opened up another thread for December 2022, if you like to participate, leave your name, varieties, and qty there. I will pick up when the time comes.
  https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=46923.0
 
  For now, lets have some rest and have some fun with our current trees.

[Elopez2027@aol.com]

Bill,
YOU DID A Fantastic Job. Both times!! I Thank You and I’m sure many others Thank You. I am excited for Yangmei in the USA and Puerto Rico. Cannot wait for flowers and fruits!
To soon to order but I’ll order again.
Thank You Bill.

[roblack]

I am very happy with your efforts Bill, and appreciate your hard work.

Found buds popping on An Hai today, joining WuSu with hopeful signs of life.

[RevivalR00ts]

It is awesome seeing all of the leaves growing! More importantly, has anyone been able to verify root growth or better yet, taken any pictures of new roots?!

[Satya]

Hi guys, has anyone already used the Monterey nematode control on the new Yangmei plants? I got it today, was reading the manual and it says application of 8 fl oz in 6 gallons of water for a 1000 sq ft area. How would you make a mix for a 1g pot or a 3g pot?

And when do you apply: when the plants are leafing out, when buds are present or on dormant plants?
I would really like this to work... thanks in advance!!

[roblack]

With all the stress they've already been through, waiting till trees have recovered and leafed out some before treating for nematodes. Then, adding beneficial todes.

In the meantime, keeping pots in a bin and not letting any of the water drain into the yard or porch.

[simon_grow]

Hi guys, has anyone already used the Monterey nematode control on the new Yangmei plants? I got it today, was reading the manual and it says application of 8 fl oz in 6 gallons of water for a 1000 sq ft area. How would you make a mix for a 1g pot or a 3g pot?

And when do you apply: when the plants are leafing out, when buds are present or on dormant plants?
I would really like this to work... thanks in advance!!

Hey Satya,

A friend from this last group buy was very worried about his nematode infested trees so I agreed to treat two of his worst trees. I used approximately 1.33 Oz per gallon and dipped the bare root trees up past the crown and then immediately planted the trees into 1 gallon pots. Once the trees were planted, I then watered with a fresh batch because I didn’t want to use the contaminated dip water. The trees are still alive with buds and a few leaves but definitely not out of the woods yet.

I will wait 1-2 months before treatment with beneficial nematodes because I don’t want the Monterey treatment to kill the good guys.

Simon

[Tustinfruitnerd]

I've just received a shipment of beneficial nematodes yesterday.  I will be drenching the potted yangmei's with the good nematodes today without pretreating the plants with chemicals to kill off the root-knot nematodes.  My reasoning for bypassing the chemical treatment is that if I were to first kill off the bad nematodes, then I'd be removing the food source of the good nematodes.  I'm thinking that if the good nematodes are introduced to an environment where there's an abundance of food (being the bad nematodes), then they will be well-fed, multiply, and colonize the pot even faster. At least until when there's a shift to there being more predators than prey.  In which case, my problem with the bad nematodes are hopefully resolved. That is my hypothesis but only time will tell.

Also an update on yangmei plants.  I noticed that they were slow to push so I put plastic bags over them and placed them in the greenhouse located in direct sunlight and they seemed to respond really well.  However, I did use opaque bags so the sunlight was technically filtered out a bit but it still helped to retain more humidity and higher temperature.  It was mostly in the 80s during the day and mid 50s during the night in the greenhouse. For me, the Black Crystal and An Hai were to quickest to recover and leaf out.  Both were younger and smaller, than the Biqi and Dongkui.  My guess is that because they were younger, they had more of the feeder roots closer toward the center of the root ball. Maybe that helped preserve more of those vital roots during the harvesting of the trees.  Whereas, the larger, older Biqui and Donkui trees came with mostly larger roots with very few feeder, fibrous roots.  I'm assuming those got cut off during the harvesting process because the harvesters didn't dig far out enough.  From my own experience with the 15 trees or so, I've noticed a direct correlation between the size of the trees, amount of fibrous roots and its ability to recover.  I've also noticed that one of my An Hai's that is pushing buds had no branching roots, aside from a sad stubby looking central root. Initially, I had little hope for its survival, but it seems to be doing just fine now. It too was a smaller, younger tree as well. On a different plant, I've also seen a white root developing from the tree trunk. I'm guessing yangmei's do have some ability to root from the lower trunk it's covered with soil? From my observations, I would choose smaller, younger trees over the larger, older ones.  It will be helpful to see if others have observed similarly. It might be helpful info for future purchases. 

[simon_grow]

Here’s my friends Black Crystal/Big Black Carbon after treatment with Monterey Nematode Control.






Simon

[Jaboticaba45]

Here’s my friends Black Crystal/Big Black Carbon after treatment with Monterey Nematode Control.






Simon

Thanks for the update Simon. My black crystal buds have started to break. Im going to buy that product and try it out. I figure if I can successfully treat these without having to re graft, the better it is. I foolishly worry about these spreading in my greenhouse. Better to act then react.

I already have two spots in my greenhouse to plant these in ground. Really hoping they take off. I want to be the first person in TN to fruit yangmei!

[RevivalR00ts]

 Things are really starting to take off. This is Wusu.

[Satya]

Hi guys, has anyone already used the Monterey nematode control on the new Yangmei plants? I got it today, was reading the manual and it says application of 8 fl oz in 6 gallons of water for a 1000 sq ft area. How would you make a mix for a 1g pot or a 3g pot?

And when do you apply: when the plants are leafing out, when buds are present or on dormant plants?
I would really like this to work... thanks in advance!!

Hey Satya,

A friend from this last group buy was very worried about his nematode infested trees so I agreed to treat two of his worst trees. I used approximately 1.33 Oz per gallon and dipped the bare root trees up past the crown and then immediately planted the trees into 1 gallon pots. Once the trees were planted, I then watered with a fresh batch because I didn’t want to use the contaminated dip water. The trees are still alive with buds and a few leaves but definitely not out of the woods yet.

I will wait 1-2 months before treatment with beneficial nematodes because I don’t want the Monterey treatment to kill the good guys.

Simon

Thank you Simon. All 3 trees from the last group order in February are pushing buds right now. I will wait until they form leaves and then treat. From the previous order 2 out of 3 didn't make. The one that made (Dongkui) already had buds when i received and they kept pushing. The soil mix used was foxfarm. When there were 10-15 leaves and many smaller buds all along, i moved the pot to 70% shadehouse. There were some days of good rain and i was away. When i came back home i saw the small buds that were pushing, pushed and then mini leaves turned black and wilted. The bigger leaves also didn't look happy but stayed green. I moved the pot away from where it could get rain and put back in patio to dry out. I am not sure the wilting and dying of young leaves was from too much water in the pot or from nematodes or both, perhaps nematode laden roots not able to deal with extra moisture in the pot.
Posting pics below, please let me know what you think might have happened.

[Satya]

[spaugh]

I looked at the photos before reading what you wrote and my first thought was too much water. 

[simon_grow]

I’m also guessing it’s because of too much water. The main objective of using a small pot is to control the perched water table. When the soil is over saturated with water, there is less air/oxygen and the roots will not be happy. If even a bit of your soil starts to get anaerobic, there will be a good chance that Pythium could take hold.

For organic gardening, I don’t know if Hydrogen Peroxide is allowed but a drench in 1% hydrogen peroxide may be enough to kill it off (Pythium). You can also use Actinovate but Actinovate works better as a preventative rather than a curative.

For non organic growers, you can use any systemic fungicide for Pythium like Monterey garden phos.

If the plant recovered from the bare root process and has some new leaves and stems that look healthy without brown or dried leaf margins, that is an indicator that the plant likely grew a bit of roots and may be strong enough to defend itself from attack.

I would just let the potting soil dry out a bit before re watering.

Simon

[spaugh]

That fox farm and similar soils hold a lot of water too.  They are probably designed more for growing super thirsty fast growing cannabis plants.  Whenever I use that kind of soil I add like 30% perlite or lava rock to let it breath better.   Im not good with potted plants really so usually i just use premade cactus mix that drains super easy so it cant be over watered.

[simon_grow]

I use a roughly 50:50 mix of Foxfarm and Happyfrog for most my potted trees and it does hold a lot of water but it’s a great soil that has worked really well for me. You just have to let it dry out a bit before the next watering. To be honest, I think these two pre mixed soil mixes are over priced but they do use quality ingredients and I’m too busy to mix my own soil so they are convenient but expensive.

Whatever soil mix you use, get familiar with it so you know when to water. Lift up the pit after you water it and get that feeling of 100% saturation. Get another pot that’s the same size and fill it with the same amount of soil and let it completely dry out and feel it and remember this weight as ~0% saturation or completely dry. You never want your soil completely dry.

I usually water my plants when the soil feels 30-50% of saturation.

Two plants in a 5 gallon pot of the same soil mix may require watering at very different intervals. For example; you can have a Luc’s Mexican Mangosteen in a 5 gallon pot of Foxfarm and a tomato plant in a 5 gallon pot of this same soil and the tomato may require daily watering where as the Lucs may require watering every week or two.

You have to look at the growth rate of the plant, the approximate surface area of the leaves and make your best guess as to how much transpiration is going occurring on a daily basis. If you tend to overwater, you can place your pot on concrete( watch out for staining) and the concrete will wick away moisture from the bottom of the pot.

Simon

[Satya]

Thanks Simon and Brad. I have decided to let the plant dry out before watering again, keep in complete shade for a while and watch the leaves out for any changes. The remaining leaves look ok, not growing in size in the last 2 weeks but not wilting or turning black tips either. Today i noticed some small buds come out from the lower portion of the affected branch so i think the plant is recovering. i guess the plant is focusing on root development now. When do you recommend putting any nutrition mix? Although i think fox farm mix already comes with fertilizer mixed in.

[simon_grow]

Satya, Foxfarm soil already has plenty of nutrients in it and the Yangmei requires very little fertilizer when there is so little growth. I don’t know how much rain you’ve gotten but every time it rains, it will wash away some of the nutrients. I think you will be good not fertilizing for 1 month or more.

If your tree starts growing like crazy or the leaves indicate it’s lacking nutrients, then I would fertilize with a fruit trees fertilizer at 1/4 or 1/2 the label recommendation. By feeding your plants a fraction of the label recommendations, you can feed 2-4 times as frequently.

If you are a busy person, I have had great success using Osmocote Plus but make sure you mark on your calendar every time you feed so you know when the capsules are out of juice.

Simon