How to grow purple magnolia

How to grow purple magnolia

Pot soil

Purple magnolia likes loose and fertile acidic or slightly acidic soil. You can mix equal amounts of leaf mold and garden soil as the culture soil, and add 50 to 150 grams of bone meal or nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compound fertilizer to the soil.

The pot should be slightly deeper and larger, and some broken hard plastic foam blocks should be placed at the bottom of the pot to enhance air permeability and drainage and prevent root rot. Repot and change the soil once a year or every other year after flowering, retaining 1/2 to 1/3 of the old soil.

Watering

Purple magnolia likes moisture and is afraid of waterlogging, so it is important to water it at the right time and in the right amount. From the beginning of spring to flowering, the potting soil should be kept moist but not wet; after flowering, the potting soil should be kept moist but not waterlogged; after leaves fall, the potting soil should be kept slightly moist but not dry.

There should be no drought or waterlogging at any time, especially in the rainy season, attention should be paid to drainage and waterlogging prevention.

fertilizer

Purple magnolia likes fertilizer, and fertilization should be carried out during the two key months before flowering and May after flowering. Apply nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compound fertilizer once every ten days or so. The former makes the buds swell and the flowers bloom, while the latter promotes more buds and more flowers in the following spring.

Apply fertilizer mainly composed of phosphorus and potassium once when the leaves fall in winter to enhance its ability to resist cold and survive the winter. Apply less or no fertilizer at other times. Avoid applying nitrogen fertilizer alone.

Light Temperature

Purple magnolia likes light and should be placed in a sunny courtyard or roof garden. It will grow strong and luxuriantly if exposed to more sunlight. Although it can also grow in semi-shady conditions, it will be weak and have few flowers, and there will be no flowers if it is too shaded.

It is relatively cold-resistant and can overwinter outdoors in Beijing and areas to its south.

prune

Purple magnolia has a strong ability to sprout from its roots. If it does not need to be propagated, just prune it as it grows, and keep 3 main trunks in each pot. For branches that are too high or too long, you can cut them short when the leaves just unfold after flowering. Because they have poor wound healing ability, they should be coated with sulfur powder for preservation after pruning. Do not prune them if it is not necessary. If you do not need to keep seeds for reproduction after flowering, you should cut off the remaining flowers with the stems.

How to propagate purple magnolia

Division method

After flowering, repot and change the soil, pour out the plant, use sharp scissors or a knife to cut off the sub-plants with roots, and plant them elsewhere.

Transplantation can be carried out in autumn or early spring before flowering. Small seedlings should be dipped in mud, and large seedlings must have soil balls. Fertilize once before and after flowering, mainly with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. Maintain soil moisture during the high temperatures of summer and the dry season of autumn.

After flowering and before new branches sprout, dead branches, dense branches and long branches should be cut off and shortened.

Grafting

Rootstock selection and treatment

The rootstock should be selected from inferior varieties in the initial or full bud stage with no buds or few buds. First, saw off the crown from the main branches and central leading trunk. The horizontal heights from the ground should be close to avoid imbalance in the strength of the main branches due to apical dominance; the upper main branch should be shorter than the next main branch, and the height of the central leading trunk should be slightly higher than the top main branch. The interface should be selected in a smooth area and the saw cut should be flattened with a cutting knife.

Selection and treatment of scion

The scion for purple magnolia should be selected from single plants of excellent varieties of Monkey Palm Ulmus pumila, Big Hairy Peach Ulmus pumila or Two Hairy Peach Ulmus pumila. Choose one-year-old branches that are strong, well-developed, and free of diseases and pests, and pick them immediately after grafting.

Choice of grafting method

The best time to carry out grafting technology is around the time of spring bud break to the leaf expansion stage. Generally, it is mid to late March, and the time can be extended if only the axillary buds have not yet germinated. The grafting methods include cleft grafting, cut grafting and bud grafting.

Cleft grafting is mostly used for thick branches. First, use a cleft knife or a sharp axe to split the branches from the joint, insert a wooden peg in the center of the cleft, cut the scion into about 10 cm long, cut the base into a wedge shape, and insert it into the cleft so that the outer cambium layers are aligned with each other. A scion can be grafted on each side of each split. After connection, gently pull out the wooden peg.

Cut grafting is to make a longitudinal cut with a slight cut in the wood at the interface, cut the scion into a length of about 5 cm, and cut the two sides of the base into two cut surfaces, one long and one short (the long surface is about 3 cm, and the short surface is about 1.5 cm). Insert the short surface outwards into the incision, aligning the cambium close to one end.

Bud grafting is the process of filling the gaps in a branch group using bud grafting to make the branch group complete.

After grafting using the above methods, the interface should be immediately wrapped and tied tightly with plastic film strips, leaving the scion exposed.

Post-grafting management

About 20 days after grafting, when the scion survives, the plant can begin to sprout and unfold leaves. Be careful to remove the sprouts on the rootstock in time. For those that do not survive, summer bud grafting should be carried out at a suitable position on the rootstock. When the scion shoots are 50 cm long, they can be pinched to increase branching and form a crown early.

Economic Value of Magnolia

The bark, leaves and buds of purple magnolia can all be used as medicine; the dried buds are called magnolia, which has a fragrant smell and spicy taste, and contains volatile oils mainly including lemon magnolia aldehyde, eugenol and eucalyptus oil. It is mainly used to treat rhinitis and headache, and as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory agent. It has been a traditional Chinese medicine in my country for more than 2,000 years, and is also used as a grafted rootstock for magnolia, white orchid and other Magnoliaceae plants.

Purple magnolia not only has large and beautiful flowers with graceful shapes and a subtle fragrance, it has high ornamental value and few diseases and pests, but its flower buds are also called magnolia, which have always been the main medicine for treating nasal diseases in traditional Chinese medicine. They are picked before flowering and in the bud stage, and placed in a well-ventilated place to dry in the shade for later use.

Li Shizhen affirmed its efficacy in treating nasal diseases in Compendium of Materia Medica. Modern research has shown that the volatile oil contained in magnolia has a constrictive effect on the blood vessels of the nasal mucosa and can promote the absorption of secretions, thereby improving the ventilation function of the nasal cavity. For the treatment of acute and chronic rhinitis and sinusitis, take 10 grams each of magnolia and Xanthium sibiricum, wrap them in gauze and decoct them. Take the concentrated juice and drip it into the nose, 3 or 4 times a day. The effect is good.