help needed with my Podocarpus Macrophyllus- southern yew

getchells · White Belt Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 2

My tree is dying i think... the leaves have gone from Grey to brown. they started to go grey so i eased up on the watering and put it outside for better temperatures the branches have now gone brittle and the leaves are an orange colour.. any ideas how i can save it?

Surrey John

Hi Getchells - welcome to BH where you will always receive friendly and helpful advice. My first thought about your Podocarpus is that as it is actually an outdoor plant, it has probably suffered (for a tree) from extreme heatstroke and heavy light deficiency - indoors is the worst place for a temperate tree. Your problem is one of the commonest we see on this forum, and all of us in our turn have mistakenly done this in the early stages of learning bonsai.

Putting your Podocarpus outside was the best thing you could have done - it is an outdoor plant, as all trees are. All you can do now, I think, is to hope there is still some life deep in the heart of your tree, so water it gently but regularly to keep the roots moist, and wait. You may even need to wait a season - do not give up.

Good luck! SJ.

Stymie · Last edited by Stymie on Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:33 am; edited 1 time in total

Hello getchells.
You are sporting the union flag so the Podocarpus would have been okay outside for most of the time. There are some varieties of tree which are native to sub-tropical areas which do better inside if given adequate light and humidity.The grey needles are usually a sign of over watering.
Try scraping a tiny piece of bark away with your finger nail. If, under the bark there is moist white or green colour, it is still alive and will come back now that it is outside where nature intended. If the colour is brown and dry, it may be too late. Unlike Taxus (Yew), they do not need semi shade but otherwise their needs are similar.
Good luck. I hope that you manage to rear it. Keep the planting medium only just moist at all times and don't try to feed it until it starts to grow again. They are notoriously slow growers and will probably take time to respond.

freezingcold · Orange Belt Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 288

I keep my Podocarpus indoors /green house all year at least since I bought it in summer 07.

They need to be indoors or at least a green house over winter coz frost will damage them if not kill them.

Mine is growing like crazy at present I will put it outside next month.

Surrey John

Ha! So there we are! EITHER keep it in your house, OR in a greenhouse, OR outside! One of them must be right. Shows the value of seeking advice in BH! Wink

Slightly more seriously, I have to confess I do not own a Podocarpus myself, so I can't speak from experience at first hand and therefore I now gently bow out of this thread. I was only trying to help! Maybe the answer will be to consult 2-3 of the standard popular books and see what they say.

SJ.

Stymie

I still don't see why P. macrophyllus, a temperate evergreen albeit antipodean, should need winter protection in the UK, that is as long as they haven't been recently raised in greenhouse conditions. When they have been out for a growing season and have experienced the gradual cooling down, they should be okay to leave out. They can also take full sun.
I am aware that 50F or 10C are minimum temperatures for good growth but they can stand an occasional frost.

getchells · White Belt Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 2

Thankyou everyone for your help..

I think ill put it outside, my house is very warm... however although i have put drainage gauze in the bottom i was worried that the tree may get its roots wet bearing in mind our "spring/summer", if you can attempt to put a name on our seasons!!. and i thought they prefered drier climes??

maybe ill try it outside and under shelter thereby summarising everyones advice and hopefully she'll pull through the poor thing..
fingers crossed ill keep you all posted and i hope to show a picture of a fine podocarpus for everyone to view soon!

freezingcold · Orange Belt Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 288

if you re pot remember not to do too much root pruning as they sulk badly if you chop too much off. I stick to roughly 10% or less as a rule and have been OK so far.