Osmanthus fragrans Fudingzhu - how to take care of it?

Hi everyone, I am going to buy a plant called Osmanthus fragarans Fudingzhu, but I don't have any experience on planting it..... could you guys give me some instructions on how to select soil, fertilizer? by the way, I am going to plant it in pot, in house, since I live in canada, and it is so cold here in winter....

thanks in advance.

From the little I read this is some sort of olive? Here is the information availible at Daves Garden. Also try doing a web browser search. It may give more complete information if what you are looking for is not here. Good luck and good growing. davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1450/

thank you Gcorrier! I will wait to see if others know this question... because long time ago, I have seen people talking about Osmanthus fragarans Fudingzhu here

The tea-olives need very well-drained soil so even when you plant it in a pot it's best to use a good organic mix like pinebark soil conditioner, cow manure and/or compost. Don't use potting soil or anything with too much peat moss in it because it is too light and fluffy for the tea-olive's shrubby root system. I planted a 'Fudingzhu' last fall and almost lost it this winter because it got too cold so I think you're probably wise not to attempt it outside. I sure I'm glad it held on; that sucker bloomed it's head off all last fall.

thanks a lot Plantfreak78! very good suggestion... but I am totally a new gardener... never plant trees before... do you know where I can get "pinebark soil conditioner, cow manure and/or compost", I usually buy flower from homedepot stores, I did not see any soil there like these kinds...
thanks again.

Hmmm, the Home Depots down here usually carry those items... I don't usually endorse Miracle-Gro products but, because they pretty much dominate the market, you might be able to find either their "Organic Choice® Garden Soil" or "Garden Soil for Trees & Shrubs". Both of these would make an OK mix just make sure you water the heck out of it before you plant the shrub in it or else the fertilizer they include in the mix might burn the roots.

I'm assuming given where you live that you are planning to keep this in a pot rather than planting it in the garden, so in that case you need to make sure you get a potting mix that meant for use in containers rather than garden soil. You should be able to find Miracle Gro regular or organic potting mix at Home Depot as well.

I'd like to stress that if you're planting a shrub (as opposed to an annual) in a container you do not want your soil mix to be too light and fluffy (ie- contain too much peat) as most "potting mixes" are.

I grow shrubs in potting mix and have no trouble at all. I've always heard that garden soil is too heavy, doesn't drain well enough and doesn't allow enough air around the roots. I don't know why that would be any less true for shrubs than for any other plant?

Maybe it's just an isuue in our hot, humid summers. I just know that I have to replace shrubs for our customers all the time because they planted them (Dwarf Alberta spruces, Hinoki Falsecypress etc.) in containers with peat-heavy potting soil and the roots either dried out too much or rotted. They never seem to root properly and the customers were never able to keep them watered appropriately. But again, maybe it's a regional thing and in cooler climates (or less humid ones) you don't run into these problems.

I don't think it's heat, we see temps 100+ on some frequency throughout the summer (we'll usually even hit 110-115 a few times). The humidity is low so that could contribute, but I also had a few shrubs in pots back when I lived in Ohio and didn't have problems there either and there was definitely humidity, although the summers are slightly cooler than yours. It could be the type of plants though, I have never tried to grow a conifer in a pot so maybe their requirements are different.

Or the other possibility is that your customers just weren't watering properly--have you had trouble too or is it mainly customers of yours who you've seen the problems with? As you know, the peat based mixes are very hard to rewet if you let them dry out too much, so it's very easy to not water them thoroughly. I had problems with that with many plants (perennials/annuals as well as shrubs) when I first started off gardening until I figured out that you really had to water thoroughly to get the potting mix wet all the way through, if you just watered until water comes out the bottom (which is how many people are taught to water), there's a good chance the potting mix didn't get wet all the way. And of course overwatering is a common mistake regardless of what type of potting mix is used.

I should add that I'm not necessarily advocating peat based potting mixes--there are definitely better things that you could use, but based on everything I've ever read, garden soil isn't one of them. Personally I'm too busy (and lazy!) to make up my own potting mixes using better ingredients than peat so I used the bagged Miracle Gro stuff and it's worked fine for me, but if you have the time to make up your own soil-less, peat-less mix that's probably ideal.

The peat drying out and becoming hydrophobic is definitely one of the biggest problems here. The other problem we've had with Miracle-Gro soil products specifically is that they tend to release all of their fertilizer at once and the excess nitrogen burns half of the roots off of the plant.