My only pemphis acidula

Hello everyone
I got this pemphis nearly 5 months. This species is rarely have in land at the moment in VN.
It seems to be very very slowly developed. it looks not strong.
Please give me some advises to keep it growing well and heathy.
Thank you





Leaves often turn to yellowist

Mr. Qui,

Your Hai Furong (pemphis) seems to be very healthy. The yellowing of leaves, if it is minimum, is normal. These trees are slower to develop than other tropicals. Are they present naturally in your country?

One thing in will suggest: feed it with diluted fish fertilizer once a week. They might be slower, but they are greedy when it comes to food!!!! Also, if you have access to worm castings ( worm fertilizer ) it works quite well. Pemphis do not like the residue buildup of chemical fertilizer.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

jrodriguez wrote:Mr. Qui,

Your Hai Furong (pemphis) seems to be very healthy. The yellowing of leaves, if it is minimum, is normal. These trees are slower to develop than other tropicals. Are they present naturally in your country?

One thing in will suggest: feed it with diluted fish fertilizer once a week. They might be slower, but they are greedy when it comes to food!!!! Also, if you have access to worm castings ( worm fertilizer ) it works quite well. Pemphis do not like the residue buildup of chemical fertilizer.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

HI Jose
I have never seen it grow naturally in my country. I purchased it from a friend who lives in Mekong delta. What i known is years ago, they are dig alot in islands along coast in center to west of VN. But people do not know how to grow them well to keep them remain. Most are died back and lost. The one I got is very rare to survive until now...and also some branhes are dead already.
Well, I do feed it by NPK (14-14-14) since it is grew. So from now on fertilizer will be changed. Follow up to your suggest.
Thank you very much for yor value advises.
Quí

I would not shift entirely to fish emulsion. It lack some of the very essential micronutrients that your 14-14-14 fertilizer will include.

That is a lovely tree.

Thanks for your remind Jim
Kind regards

Jim,

Do you know, currently grow or have ever grown Pemphis acidula? The tree is healthy, but the fact that some branches are suffering from die back is an indicator that there is something wrong. I am quite sure it has to do with build up of residue from the chemical fertilizer. Changing the tree's diet will inmensely benefit this tree. Most experienced growers of Pemphis acidula will tell you that they are not your typical tree. They require special pampering, pruning methods, replanting methods, proper humidity and Organic fertilizer.

Mr. Quí,

Do change completely to Fish Emulsion. Before doing so, flush the root system for a while with water. Drench the tree until clear water drains out ot the pot. After, apply fish fertilizer.

If you wish, you might foliar feed the tree once a month with chemical fertilizer at half strength. If you choose to do this, you might want to place the tree in the shade until the leaf mass assimilates the fertilizer. After, place it in the regular location.

Organic fertilizers help develop essential micronutrients and beneficial bacteria and fungus in the root system. I have found that the healthiest Pemphis acidula trees have a lot of worms in the soil/media column. Adding worm dung will also help.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

Jose Luis is right.
I used entirely fish emulsion as the regular feed, then once a month I used Bat guano. As for the worm fertilizer, I include it as a soil mixture during repotting.
Then your tree recovers, try spraying sea water, (it is available in most pet/aquarium shops) or 1 tablespoon of salt diluted to 1 gallon of water, at least 3 times a week you will see the effect in just few months, the leaves will become thicker.
please check also your pot and soil medium, it should have a good draining condition. Other wise your Phempis will suffer root rot and more branch dieback.

regards,
jun

I don´t get fish emulsion OR bat guano locally What else can I use instead?

Hi Qui,

It is a great news that pemphis also grow in Vietnam. It must be in the small rocky islands.
Pemphis lives in the sandy and rocky beach. They will not live in normal clay swampy beach. I think you can follow the advise of Jun. If you do not have fish emulsion and bat guano, you can also use the solution of goat shit as the fertilizer. Good draining condition is a must.

Budi

AK_Panama wrote:I don´t get fish emulsion OR bat guano locally What else can I use instead?

Cow dung. cured. , horse dung will also do. cured and diluted.

Quí,

Saigon is not far from Thailand if you want to have more Pemphis trees I think you can find them there.

Xuan

We don't have Phemphis here but we do have a vew varities of mangro. I use fish emulsion and chicken poop. I make a tea with it and either foliar feed or apply to surface. One word of caution be carfull of any animal dropping fertilizer it is easy to burn your trees with these.

Mitch

Mitch Thomas wrote:We don't have Phemphis here but we do have a vew varities of mangro. I use fish emulsion and chicken poop. I make a tea with it and either foliar feed or apply to surface. One word of caution be carfull of any animal dropping fertilizer it is easy to burn your trees with these.

Mitch

Uhm....you make tea with the fish emulsion and chicken poop or with pemphis?!?!?!

Sorry about that I should have read what I typed.
I use fish emulshion as recomended by manufacture except I delute by 1/2. The chicken poop,I use the dirt and droppings from the coup, that I put in a chese cloth and let brew for a day or two. then I delute by half for spray. Some times i will use a tea spoon of CP dust and sprinkle over soil top.

I dont have any Pemphis but I do have several button woods Concarpus erectius

Mitch

JimLewis wrote:I would not shift entirely to fish emulsion. It lack some of the very essential micronutrients that your 14-14-14 fertilizer will include.

That is a lovely tree.

Both Jose and Jun are right organic fertilizers are better for pemphis, no doubt about that,
What Jim is saying is that you should not shift entirely to fish emulsion, essential micro nutrients not found in fish emulsion can be supplied by 14-14-14, although it would be better to apply 14-14-14 by foliar spraying

It has been my experience to apply complete fertilizer dilluted with water once a month to make sure all the essential micronutrients are present in my trees diet.

When using chicken dung or goat shit dont use this when its fresh, if you have sunlight in your area, try to dry them first for several days. For guano, carabao, cow shit, its already dry when its gathered,so its ready to use.

This is a nice tree, it has good potential, dont work on it untill its healthy enough.

regards,
ka pabling

Qui,
If you have really looked and can't find fish emulsion fertalizer in Saigon let me know. Several shops here carry it here and I will be happy to bring you some when I come to town end of the month, I will go looking today to make sure they still have it.
That tree looks good, keep it growing man!!

Bob

mr qui , like you i only have one pemphis so i enjoy reading all the replies you are getting ,i cannot get fish emulsion either but can get bat guano and i have been using it for the last year and now i will be using worm casts also . i am going to change the soil on my tree soon and on the advice of the experts from the philippines washing out the coco peat and replacing it with volcanic rock and coral rock which i had to order from an aquarium shop and its just arrived . A question to our friends in the philippines is when you use cow dung do you mix it with volcanic rock or top dress after . we do have pemphis in thailand as mr xuan le said and they are mainly in the rayong area but it is illegal to just dig them up as they are protected but there are some traders in rayong who sell them with permission < maybe> . regards john

john5555leonard wrote:A question to our friends in the philippines is when you use cow dung do you mix it with volcanic rock or top dress after .

John,

Only use dried up cow dung as if it were slow release fertilizer. Do not mix it into the media.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

jrodriguez wrote:

john5555leonard wrote:A question to our friends in the philippines is when you use cow dung do you mix it with volcanic rock or top dress after .

John,

Only use dried up cow dung as if it were slow release fertilizer. Do not mix it into the media.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

Yes.
other wise it will accumulate in the in the "soil" medium and the most part of it is undigested grass, in time this will affect the drainage capacity of your pot/soil. Same reason why I use bat guano, it got smaller particle size that can pass thru the coarse sand and out the drain.

regards,
jun

Thank you very much for all advises so far. I have read all comments, so I think my lovely pemphis will develop well.
warm regards
Quí

HI everyone
After reading the above instructions. I put worm fertilizer in and spray seawater rugulary. I see more buds come form the trunk and the leaves look better but beside that I also see some yellow leaves drop every two day. Is it normal ?
My pemphis now.
Rgds
Quí

Hi Qui,

Your pemphis looks much better now. , dont worry about those yellow leaves falling, its just normal.
regards
ka pabling

Ka Pabling wrote:Hi Qui,

Your pemphis looks much better now. , dont worry about those yellow leaves falling, its just normal.
regards
ka pabling

Thank you, I am very glad to know that
Rgds
Quí