Liquidambar Styraciflua Forest

[kcpoole]

Hi all
This is a Forest I have been growing now for about 5 years

Each tree was grown from seed, and I started out with 5 in the pot ( 1st photo). The tallest tree is about 450mm I guess and the pot is a large oval.

Every year these trees have struggled due to the dreaded Curl grub and I have lost 3 of them), and very nearly lost these last 2 when I last potted 2 years ago into Diatomite / Zeolite Mix. The trees had very little roots left and were flopping around in the pot. Upon investigation, the pot had 12 of the buggers in there! No wonder they were not growing well
I am Glad to say that this time there was not a grub or worm to be found Yay!!.
The roots were strongly growing and one had even shot a new tree, so i Cut it from the main tree root, and planted it in the pot on its own to develop. I may try to encourage more roots to shoot this summer So i can get back more trees in the setting.

I guess I am posting this here so I Can keep a record of it online and show how well Trees do in Diatomite

Suggestions gladly Accepted

Ken

[craigw60]

Hi Ken, I love groups of tall straight trees they always look so commanding, one thing I would suggest is to get the tree in closer together rather than have them spread over the pot, If you get them nice and snug against each other its much easier to create a complete outline with the canopy, and the ramification will appear much more dense, also you will more clearly see the differences in trunk height and thickness.
Craig

[Loretta]

I just love the deciduous trees you lucky guys get to grow down south. I noticed in Bunnings the other day they are selling Liquidambars. Now I do realise you wouldn't get the lovelly autumn colours up here that you all get to experience but I would like to know if elms-privets-liquidambars etc would actually grow up here. I would love a forest of Liquidambars
Loretta

[Glenda]

I just love the deciduous trees you lucky guys get to grow down south. I noticed in Bunnings the other day they are selling Liquidambars. Now I do realise you wouldn't get the lovelly autumn colours up here that you all get to experience but I would like to know if elms-privets-liquidambars etc would actually grow up here. I would love a forest of Liquidambars
Loretta

Loretta, I have two liquidambars that are still only seedlings, but both of them went red and purple and lost every single leaf this winter. David told me JCU has a couple on campus and they lost all their leaves also. Go for it!

Glenda

[Glenda]

Hi all
This is a Forest I have been growing now for about 5 years

Each tree was grown from seed, and I started out with 5 in the pot ( 1st photo). The tallest tree is about 450mm I guess and the pot is a large oval.

Every year these trees have struggled due to the dreaded Curl grub and I have lost 3 of them), and very nearly lost these last 2 when I last potted 2 years ago into Diatomite / Zeolite Mix. The trees had very little roots left and were flopping around in the pot. Upon investigation, the pot had 12 of the buggers in there! No wonder they were not growing well
I am Glad to say that this time there was not a grub or worm to be found Yay!!.
The roots were strongly growing and one had even shot a new tree, so i Cut it from the main tree root, and planted it in the pot on its own to develop. I may try to encourage more roots to shoot this summer So i can get back more trees in the setting.

I guess I am posting this here so I Can keep a record of it online and show how well Trees do in Diatomite

Suggestions gladly Accepted

Ken

Ken, I read somewhere that diatomite dust is used as an insecticide. Maybe that is another benefit of using it! Do you get curl grubs in pots on the bench, or are they mostly a problem in pots on the ground?

Glenda

[Loretta]

I just love the deciduous trees you lucky guys get to grow down south. I noticed in Bunnings the other day they are selling Liquidambars. Now I do realise you wouldn't get the lovelly autumn colours up here that you all get to experience but I would like to know if elms-privets-liquidambars etc would actually grow up here. I would love a forest of Liquidambars
Loretta

Loretta, I have two liquidambars that are still only seedlings, but both of them went red and purple and lost every single leaf this winter. David told me JCU has a couple on campus and they lost all their leaves also. Go for it!

Glenda

Glenda...you couldn't have given me better news...I'll go to Bunnings this arvo and buy some

[kcpoole]

Hi Glenda I only noticed them in my pots. Occasionally I have seen them in ground, but my lawn is lovely so the are not chewing on the roots there:-)
I also heard about the dust as the reason, but also the sharp edges pokes them and the do not like that

Thanks Craig
I agree, but due to LA being so Vigourous with leaf size i thought to originally space them out a bit more.
Now that there is only 3 trees I did not have a choice , I hope to obtain some more trees over the next couple of sesons by Cutting or more root grafts and populate the pot again so I will see how many I get
Might have to do the Seed collection again this year

I Need to regrow the Top of the second tree as it has died back this year

Ken

[Loretta]

[quote
Loretta, I have two liquidambars that are still only seedlings, but both of them went red and purple and lost every single leaf this winter. David told me JCU has a couple on campus and they lost all their leaves also. Go for it!

Glenda

I bought a tree today, just over 2ft high full of new bursting buds and beautiful corky bark...very skinny though. I guess I'll have to be patient There was two others there and I was tempted to buy the three but logic stepped in (it does occassionally) and I thought it best to get to know the tree and its habits before spending more money. I wonder where the trees at the uni are, wouldn't mind experimenting with some seeds Could you have a whisper in Davids' ear Glenda, he might walk past them every day. I also bought fairly biggish azalea which is covered in pink flowers. It was the trunk that sold me..a single trunk which I can maintain as a single trunk (I hope)!!

Well I don't start work till 2pm tomorrow, so I'll get some time in the garden cheers Loretta

[Luke308]

Just wondering if its possible to have an update on this? Also out of curiosity, what is a curl grub, and how do know if you have them, and can you control them? Did the diatomite help?
Also have you had any success with striking Liquidambar cuttings? my success rate is zero with them out of about 12, but I layered my 6 foot tall Liquidambar today and needed to remove a branch to pot layer one spot , so I have attempted a few cuttings from that branch. Not too concerned if they don't strike, but I want my layers to take , that way I get 4 trees for the price of 1
Thanks,
Luke

[kcpoole]

Hi Luke. Never saw the update request sorry

Curl Grub is a larvae of a beetle and the beetle lays egss onto the soil and the larvae grow and eat the roots of the trees.

The only 1 left is now in the ground to thicken up and grow on for a few years and since using Diatomite in my Mix I have never seen any more grubs:-)

Ken