Magnolia Care

[dougandmel]

Hi, I live near Cleveland, Ohio. I transplanted a magonlia( about 10' tall x 8' wide) to my yard last April. It's doing fine, but no bloom this spring. Is this due to the move? It had bloomed in it's previous location for many years. When we planted it, we mixed a couple bags of miracle gro with fertilizer into the soil, and mulched around it. I was thinking now would be a good time to fertilize it again. I looked at the Vigoro fertilizer website and they recommended this : http://www.vigoro.com/ProductCategories/PlantFood/PremiumAzaleaCamelliaRhododendronFood/
It's a 10-8-8. Miracle Gro has a blend for similar plants, http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp?tabs=general&proId=prod70346&itemId=cat70044&id=rootCategoryId but it's a 30-10-10. What do you think, would you use either one of these, or something all together different? Any thoughts as to how long before it will bloom in the spring again? Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Hlakegollum]

Mine just bloomed today. Leave it alone, all it needs is water.

 

[treeseer]

When we planted it, we mixed a couple bags of miracle gro with fertilizer into the soil,

Did you read the directions?

 

[dougandmel]

I'm not sue what you mean by "did you read the directions". mixing potting soil is pretty self-explanatory. If you mean directions on the tree, there weren't any. The tree was from a old shopping center that was being torn down, and it would have been cut down if we didn't take it. My cousin, who was demolishing the buildings, dug it out for us with a backhoe, and we brought it home and planted it. I've read a little bit about fertilizing it, and it seems that spring time is the time to do it. However, I'm no expert on what to use. That's the question, will one of the fertilizers I suggested previously work well, or is there something better/different that I should be using?

 

[capetrees]

Any pictures of the tree are always a big help.

As far as instructions, fertilizer is a help in that it gives the plant nutrients but too much is deadly. 30-10-10 seems very strong. Especially at transplant time I try to supplement the soil with a root stimulator B-12 liquid supplement and then mix tree tone or plant tone into the soil and sprinkled on the top to seep in with watering and rain. The tone products aren't as harsh on a plant and you can't screw up the quantities unless you REALLY over do it.

 

[treeseer]

Ohhh I thought "Miracle-Gro" meant fert; did not know they packaged dirt, too...

I'd attribute the lack of flowers to transplant shock.

Posting a pic would help a lot here.

 

[TreeWizard]

An old but very good rule of thumb regarding transplants is:

First year they sleep.
Second year they creep.
Third year they leap.

 

[dougandmel]

UPDATE:

Well the tree did in face get a few flowers on it. About 12-15 near the top. And now it's filling out with leaves. I got some 6-4-5 fertilizer from a local garden center (was told it would be good to use with magnolias). I'll fertilize every 3 months as per the package, and we'll have to wait and see what happens next spring. Hopefully it'll be settled in by then and bloom out fully. I'd like to put up a picture, but the digital camera is broke, and we haven't replaced it yet.