Magnolia standard different growth

Lie

Hi everyone, 

I bought 2x Magnolia Standard Red Lucky bare root trees in March this year - special deal with T&M. I asked for some advice and they are sitting in 50% manure / 30% standard compost / 20% ericacious as per T&Ms recommendation. I also gave ericacious compost twice since then. 

One tree is doing really well but the other one is just a bit slow and significantly smaller. I was treating both exactly the same but now worry that something is wrong with one of them. what do you think...should i be worried? there are no signs on the leaves or stem. looking forward hearing your thoughts. 

Cheers everyone. happy gardening:)

Ladybird4

50% manure seems an extraordinary amount of manure to mix in your other two mixes. Magnolias do not need ericaceous compost. Lots of them prefer alkaline to neutral soils. It may be that they were slightly different in size when you bought them (?) I cannot understand why T&M would sell standard Magnolias (or maybe its the £££££) as to keep their shape they will need regular trimming and Magnolias do not respond well to being pruned.

Dovefromabove

Are you sure these are 'standards'?  The one on the right certainly has growth coming from low on the stem.  

I've found this 

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/flowers/all-other-seeds-and-plants/shrubs-and-roses/magnolia-red-lucky/p86730TM

where the care instructions differ from those you quote 

How far from the fence are your trees planted?  They look far too close to me - magnolias can grow into huge trees 

Dovefromabove

Hmm - now I've found this 

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/flowers/all-other-seeds-and-plants/shrubs-and-roses/magnolia-red-lucky-patio-standard/t10587TM

which is certainly a standard - but as I said, yours has growth from lower down on the stem.  

Ladybird4

I think that T&M might be being a bit economical with the truth.

Dovefromabove

Past experience certainly leads several of us to believe that they can be very economical with the plants they sell for quite substantial sums 

Lie

Hi everyone, 

They are definitely standards...and the link above is correct indeed. In all fairness it was a super deal and i paid maybe 8 pounds for both, but remains weird that one is so different from the other in development. What i learned from the messages above is that i better be careful not to overfeed them with ericacious compost. Thanks everyone  

Dovefromabove

If you're wanting to grow them as standards, you'll need to do something about the growth lower down on the stem. 

karenbowering

Lie said:

Hi everyone, 

I bought 2x Magnolia Standard Red Lucky bare root trees in March this year - special deal with T&M. I asked for some advice and they are sitting in 50% manure / 30% standard compost / 20% ericacious as per T&Ms recommendation. I also gave ericacious compost twice since then. 

One tree is doing really well but the other one is just a bit slow and significantly smaller. I was treating both exactly the same but now worry that something is wrong with one of them. what do you think...should i be worried? there are no signs on the leaves or stem. looking forward hearing your thoughts. 

Cheers everyone. happy gardening:)

Hi, my dad & I got the same deal from t&m, dad's are doing fine, leaves on both, mine are about 12foot apart, one looks healthy with leaves on, the other looks dead 🤔

hogweed

I have to say that the pic on the T&M website makes for one ugly plant! Magnolias are normally magnificent! But each to our own!

nutcutlet

hogweed said:

I have to say that the pic on the T&M website makes for one ugly plant! Magnolias are normally magnificent! But each to our own!

One of them looks like a branch of flowers from a larger tree stuffed in the ground. I think what I see there is not possible on a plant that size