Mimosa dealbata

snowyy

Hi 
I’ve got a mimosa dealbata plant I bought late last year and need some advice on it please as it does not appear to be flourishing. Am I right in thinking I need to remove all the stems shoots at the bottom and just leave one main stem. As you can see in the pic it is getting leggyPics attached,

Posy

I don't know about shaping it, I'm afraid, but to get it growing well I would suggest planting it straight into the ground, not very close to the wall and removing all the slate in a big circle. Make sure the soil is moist then pile on a layer of well rotted manure, but don't let it touch the trunk or stems.

Obelixx

It needs to be in full sun and likes acid to neutral soil so you need to use ericaceous compost if you insist on growing it in a pot and only water with rainwater or distilled water or else use corrective liquid fertiliser for ericaceous plants.

These trees want to get quite large and are not reliably hardy below -5C, especially when young.   We have two in our plot, inherited when we bought the house.  This one is a good 10 to 12 metres across.

This photo in February 3 years ago and the 2nd a year later after we'd tidied it up so we could mow the grass without losing our heads or the mower.

snowyy

Posy said:

I don't know about shaping it, I'm afraid, but to get it growing well I would suggest planting it straight into the ground, not very close to the wall and removing all the slate in a big circle. Make sure the soil is moist then pile on a layer of well rotted manure, but don't let it touch the trunk or stems.

Thanks for the reply, growing it in a container as all my soil is neutral and I heard these like acidic so potted with ericaceous compost, also they can get quite large so wanted to restrict that by growing in a container. 

snowyy

Obelixx said:

It needs to be in full sun and likes acid to neutral soil so you need to use ericaceous compost if you insist on growing it in a pot and only water with rainwater or distilled water or else use corrective liquid fertiliser for ericaceous plants.

These trees want to get quite large and are not reliably hardy below -5C, especially when young.   We have two in our plot, inherited when we bought the house.  This one is a good 10 to 12 metres across.

This photo in February 3 years ago and the 2nd a year later after we'd tidied it up so we could mow the grass without losing our heads or the mower.

Hi thanks for the reply, growing in a pot using ericaceous compost, watering with tap water but I am using an ericaceous liquid fertiliser every two weeks on it. Yours Looks like a magnificent shrub/tree but for me that would be far too big, I wanted something that wouldn’t grow taller than a meter or two which was one of the reasons for growing it in a pot. Chose it as all my plants flower in summer and I wanted something that flowers over winter although mine hasn’t flowered as yet and I have had it since July last year. I brought mine inside during November until end of feb as I thought these were not hardy being native to Australia but have since read that they can tolerate the cold just not extreme cold as you mentioned. Not sure if it is still establishing itself or what but doesn’t really seem to be growing fast. It has green foliage on it so I know it is not dead.

Posy

Unfortunately,  unless you are a bonsai expert, you can't limit growth by putting it in a tiny pot, any more than you can stop your feet growing by wearing tiny shoes. You will just make it unhealthy and, eventually,  dead. Mimosa are big , as Obelixx's beautiful example shows. It won't  change its nature to meet our needs so you would be better to put it somewhere else, where it can grow, and buy a much smaller shrub. There are many that would suit you.

Obelixx

I would not have planted one of these from choice.  The flowers are a very acid yellow which is not helped by its contrast with the glaucous green foliage.   In addition the flowers are short lived and after a couple of weeks they all go brown and tatty looking.

I also think growing it in a pot will just str-arve it rather than restrict growth unless you use proper bonsai techniques.

A better choice would have been a winter flowering honeysuckle - https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/68665/i-Lonicera-fragrantissima-i/Details Mine flowered for well over a month.

I'm looking for one of these - https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/29215/Chimonanthus-praecox/Details and nurturing one of these - https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/16452/sarcococca-confusa/details

snowyy

Posy said:

Unfortunately,  unless you are a bonsai expert, you can't limit growth by putting it in a tiny pot, any more than you can stop your feet growing by wearing tiny shoes. You will just make it unhealthy and, eventually,  dead. Mimosa are big , as Obelixx's beautiful example shows. It won't  change its nature to meet our needs so you would be better to put it somewhere else, where it can grow, and buy a much smaller shrub. There are many that would suit you.

Ah I see, the website I got it from shows it in a container and says in the description that they can be grown this way https://www.jparkers.co.uk/mimosa-acacia-0004393c

Obelixx

Unfortunately, J Parkers have a very bad reputation for inaccurate names, inaccurate info and "enhanced" pictures.    

Have a read of this and see if you fancy having a go - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=586 

For now tho, I'd leave it be, give it a liquid feed for ericaceous plants and see what happens.  It's maybe feeling a bit too cold to put on much growth yet and what foliage you do have looks healthy enough.