ALBRIZIA JULIBRISSIN SUMMER CHOCOLATE

destinysuccess1

Last year I planted the above mentioned tree. Its in good health & has two main branches. One branch has excellent foliage with off shoots from the main branch which all have good foliage but the other branch which appears to be healthy is completely bare. How do i encourage this bare branch to start bearing foliage. Also it has not shown much growth so how can I encourage it to increase its growth rate? Any advice much appreciated. Thank you Roger   

Paul B3

Albizia's have a bit of a reputation for a lax and sometimes untidy manner of growth .

Without seeing your tree it's difficult to advise , but if the better of the vertical stems won't look too bad standing alone , maybe lose the other one and hope the former 'branches-out' , if you'll excuse the pun !

Paul B3

PS   Having planted your tree last year , it is possible the die-back on the other stem is a result of the 2018 drought ; with the hideous forecast for this week , make sure your tree gets plenty of water .

destinysuccess1

Thank you Paul, I think that I will cut bare branch back to the highest node to see if that invigorates growth. If not cut back to next node & so on. The other issue is that when i google information on the tree it does say that it is fast growing but mine is quite slow. Any advice as to how to boost growth? Thank you Roger

Obelixx

Water, water, water.  If it's new and young it's still settling and needs good long drinks that go deep, rather than frequent little dribbles, to help it get its roots down deep.   In autum, when the soil is damp, give it a mulch of well rotted manure or garden compost and in spring give it a generous handful of pelleted chicken manure or blood, fish and bone.

destinysuccess1

Hello Thank you so much for your help. Regards Roger