Magnolia

[wired]

Moved house 3 years ago and inherited a magnolia about 4 foot high. The first year I couldn't identify it as it had no leaves or flowers. The soil is a very heavy clay so have been digging in lots of manure etc.Last year the tree had flowers and leaves but the weird thing is that non of the branches ( off three main stems) are longer that 6 inches.When the leaves do appear the whole branch is covered with tightly packed leaves. Any ideas would be great, thanks

[grandpajoe]

I know what i would do and it has nothing to do with cultivation.
.
See how it goes this spring and if there is no improvement dig it up and plant summat else.
Magnolias as a free standing, on it's own tree in a small garden are a pain. O K in a large garden with other trees and shrubs but.....
Sorry but get rid, Chris

[nonomaybe]

Hang on a mo'. Before you start cutting swathes through the undergrowth, consider that there are in the region of 200 Magnolia and you may have one that is different to the run-of-the-mill varieties
Are the apparently short branches a result of being cut back or seemingly natural?.

[grandpajoe]

I'll modify what i said. Get rid next winter and re plant it somewhere else and see how it goes. I hate the idea of burning on mulching something like this so re plant it.
As a feature it is obviously useless and I think someone has "hard pruned" it too hard.
Chris

[wired]

Thanks for your answers, no it hasn't been pruned, it's as if the ends of the small branches have only one bud which has aborted so that further growth is impossible. Did that make sense? I'm going to remove some of these and a few entire branches and see what happens. I hate to give up !

[nonomaybe]

Why not give it a root prune. That may liven it up and it will also start preparions for moving it.

[wired]

Thanks nono, never heard of that but anything is worth a try