I have tried several attempts and have friends who have tried to propagate Erythrina bidwillii and find it very difficult using our normal methods of propagation. I have talked to a local nursery grower and he indicated the same problem.
Need Help propagating Erythrina bidwillii
What methods have you tried to propagate the plant? Are you using seed?
Metrosideros, the seeds are sterile on bidwilli. Have tried everything except hydroponix, which I may do this summer.
Thanks Bward! I see that Erythrina x bidwillii is a hybrid.
Try using a sterile soil free rooting medium such as Pro-Mix, Perlite, or Vermiculite. Sand is good too, be sure it is sterile.
Take softwood to semi-ripe cuttings, right now, and root them with bottom heat, unless the temperature is consistently warm in your area.
Make sure the rooting medium stays moist, but not soaking wet; too much moisture will rot Erythrinas. Keep the cuttings out of direct sunlight.
Fulvic Acid (a component of Humus) encourages root production. Use one tablespoon of Fulvic Acid per gallon of water, and water your cuttings with it twice a week.
Good luck!
Aloha, Dave
I have had much better luck propagating Erythrina from hardwood cuttings. I had read that in some places large branches are Erythrina trees are planted which root and are used as living fences. When I tried a larger hardwood cutting I had much better luck getting them to root.
David
I have a huge one of these that freezes to the ground every year and comes back like gangbusters. Sadly, in the 6 years I have had it, I have only seen ONE bloom.
It contracted the dreaded stem and flower borer that affects a lot of Erythrinas in Florida.
I am going to try the Bayer Shrub and Tree treatment on it this fall, so that when the new growth comes out next spring hopefully it will have killed off the borer.
Has anyone else had success getting rid of the borer?
I had a large E. crista gallii in the back yard that isn't infested, also one in the greenhouse that blooms a lot. Also have the variegated Sunshine tree and E. gallipii (the red one?) and E. arborescens. I don't want them to get infested.
Stem Borers are killing off the native Erythrina sandwicensis here.
To prevent Borers from 'infecting' a tree you can make a ring of pea gravel about 8" out from the trunk and about 5-6" deep. This stops the adult females from laying their eggs. Borers have to lay the egg just below the soil surface at the base of the plant.
Holding the gravel with a metal or some kind of ring makes this defense last a few years.
The imidacloprid does work some. I have used it on some of my Erythrina and have not had any borers on the ones I treated. I also keep an eye on them, carefully inspecting new growth for deformity and quickly removing any that is suspect.
Some Eryrhrina are more susceptible than others, E sandwicensis & E variegata being among those that are more likely to be infected.
The native coral bean seems completely unaffected. I have huge ones on my property that just bloom and bloom and bloom.
I will try the gravel AND the Bayers!!!! I want blooms on my bidwillii!!!!
I think you are thinking about a different insect. Gall wasps deposit their eggs directly into the new growth with their ovipositor.
E. bidwillii has proven difficult for me to propagate also. My own tree is large and blooms well although it does have something that causes tip dieback. I have tired every method including air layering and success has eluded me so far. I have tried hard wood, softwood, different mediums, different rooting hormones, different seasons and still nothing. It has become a private war of wills at this point. LOL
I have plants like that ardesia. I am determined, they are equally determined. They usually win
Metrosideros, Have never used fulvic acid. Is it available as fulvic acid or combined with other things?
You can get it both ways. It is a component of many organic growth enhancers and fertilizers or you can get it alone.
I use fulvic acid in combination with liquid fertilizers on all of my food plants!
It is usually least expensive to buy fulvic acid plain, and use it in combination with your regular fertilizer schedule.
Fulvic acid is said to increase a plant's ability to absorb nutrients by 30%. I feel that is a low estimate.
Do you spray foliarly? Or drench?
That photo looks alot like my E. herbeceae... syn?
This message was edited Jul 27, 2009 5:15 PM
I drench the soil / pots with one tablespoon fulvic acid per two gallons water; including 0-10-10 liquid bloom promoter and/or fish emulsion, once a week for every food plant (herbs) in my garden.
For seedlings, I drench the entire plant (including foliar) twice a week, till the plants are ready for transplanting into the ground or larger pots.
I have found that once a plant is beginning to mature, it is not good to foliar feed with fulvic acid, it seems (at least in my area) that it promotes mildew on the leaves.
I am also hesitant to foliar feed greens that are maturing and near harvest, as plants are very efficient at storing unneeded chemicals in their tissues as extra-cellular inclusions.
The plant can be more discretional as to what it absorbs when the fertilizers are going through the roots and it's normal vascular system.
Great information!!!!
Dave...We harvested our first sweet corn yesterday!!!
Hey Carol! You're making me jealous!
Carol, the E. bidwillii looks much like the E. herbacea on steroids. It gets very large and woody. The flowers, (are they panicles?) can get to be 12" - 14" on my bidwilii and the herbacae they are only about 6".
I just bushwhacked mine for the 3rd time this year..It has bloomed 3 times this year and fixing to do another round of it..aarrgghhh...thorns!!..I hate them thorns!!..lol..but love the blooms!!