Steve:
You have received some excellent advice from Kitsune Miko, Dale Cohoy
and Jerry Meislik, so now you will hear from the amateur!
Dale may be right about letting such tropicals stay in Florida, but
where is the challenge? I have a Buttonwood that I have kept alive for
five years and is doing well, considering the fact that I put it out
doors and it's leaves became sunburned. It was brought in doors and I
put it in an ICU enclosure (as Jerry Meislik suggested). It came back
without any problems.....
I do suggest that you place it in a plastic tent, water it well (no
fertilizer). I have been told to make sure the leaves do not touch the
plastic (I still haven't figured out why, but I do it just in case, I
don't want to find out :-P ). Even while it is in the tent, place the
tree on a propagation mat, since the Buttonwood loves its feet warm.
It will take a good 30 days to leaf out, (if you place it in the ICU).
When it recovers and has a good set ofleaves,feed it Miracid 30-10-10.
1/4 teaspoon to a gallon of water. I feed mine Monday thru Friday with
the Miracid. On Saturday and Sunday, clear water to wash out any
accumulated salts.
As Jerry said the Buttonwood needs Humidity and bright light, but keep
it year round on a propagation matt when in doors.
Good Luck and enjoy the fascinating Buttonwood!
Carl L. Rosner - near Atlantic City zone 6/7
http://bmee.net/rosner
http://www.jamesbaird.com/cgi-bin/Ja...d=00000068 48
Steve Parr wrote:
I recently picked up my first buttonwood at the MABA convention in Cincinnati
earlier this month. This past weekend I repotted it into a large training pot
from a plastic flowerpot. The new mix consisted of probably 3 parts pine bark,
2 parts 1/8" haydite, 1 parts 1/8" grit, 1 part coir (a byproduct of coconut
production), and a couple of handfuls of milled sphagnum peat (used for seed
starting, not the dry brown stuff) a different mix from what I normally use.
The tips of the branches seem to almost wilting, not quite though, just limp.
The leaves are still upright in respect to the stem, but the stem droops, so
the overall appearance looks pretty haggard. I watered it in well and kept on
eye on things for the next day or so. The soil dried considerably, enough for
to water again, but the stem tips still seem quite limp. The tree receives
morning sun from sunrise to about 11:00 am (north side of my garage) and then
maybe from 6:00 pm till dark.
Is it normal for buttonwood to resent repotting and medium root pruning? By
medium, I mean removal of maybe 1/3 to 3/8 of the root ball (there is still a
good size root ball of fine feeder roots, a bit one sided, but still quite
reasonably sized).
Steve Parr - Cincinnati, Ohio -
USDA Zone 6, Sunset Zone 35
"Now who's respon... I say who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my
person"
Foghorn Leghorn
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