Magnolias are a brilliant, colorful variety of trees native to Asia, North America and Central America. With an average height of 40 to 80 feet, and spread of 30 to 40 feet, they are the perfect size for residential landscapes.
But like all trees, magnolias require some basic care and maintenance to preserve their health and vitality. To learn more about magnolia tree care, keep reading.
Monitor pH Levels
It’s important for homeowners to monitor the pH levels in which their magnolia tree grows. Magnolia trees prefer a slightly acidic soil composition. So if your soil is too alkaline, you should add the necessary fertilizer to adjust it.
Growing a healthy magnolia tree begins with the right soil – and pH level is critical for creating a suitable soil environment for magnolia trees.
Use Caution When Mowing
One of the most common reasons why magnolia trees die is physical injury. They have relatively thin and weak bark that’s easy damaged from flying debris, such as the debris produced by lawn mowers and weed eaters. If you plan on doing any landscaping around your magnolia tree, use caution not to hit it with any debris.
Pruning
Magnolia trees require very little maintenance, but something that you’ll still need to do to is pruning. Using a pair of sharp, clean pruners, trim away dead or dying limbs, as well as overgrown shoots.
If you discover a diseased section on your magnolia tree, it’s important to remove it ASAP to prevent the disease from spreading.
Bacterial and fungal diseases can wreak havoc on magnolia trees. By pruning diseased portions of the tree away, however, it limits the damage.
Water
Of course, magnolia trees must also receive adequate water to thrive and stay healthy. When a magnolia tree becomes severely dehydrated, you may notice characteristic symptoms like browning leaves, wilting leaves, slow growth, etc.
Don’t assume that mother nature alone is enough to keep your magnolia tree hydrated. If you experience a drought in your region, your magnolia tree may not get enough water, in which case it may die.
Use a sprinkler during periods of low rainfall to prevent problems such as this from occurring.
These are just a few tips on how to care for a magnolia tree. If all of this sounds like too much, you can always hire a professional tree care company to maintain your magnolia tree.
The Woodsman Company offers tree planting, tree pruning and shrub trimming, tree removal and stump grinding as well as a tree wellness program.
If we can help with any of your tree care needs give us a call at 512-846-2535 or 512-940-0799 or
I had no idea that certain trees could be damaged by debris hitting their bark. Protecting the tree is important so watching how you mow is a good way to do that. If too much damage is done and it needs to be removed, calling a professional would be a good idea as they will have the proper equipment to get it done.
Taking care of your trees can be hard. You have to make sure that they get enough water. I agree that you should be cautious when mowing because you so not want to damage it.
Watering during drought is something that is so important and most homeowners do not think about this for established trees. I’ve seen too many of these beautiful trees die due to lack of water during the harsh Texas Summer.
Good work here! If homeowners invest in a tree they should know how to take care of it properly.
Great tip about being extra careful when mowing the lawn. Magnolia’s are gorgeous, but very fragile trees. It’s great that you took the time to educate us on the precautions to take, and proper tree care for magnolias.
Thank you.
Great blog. I like how you spent time with magnolias and their upkeep. We have always looked at getting an arborist and a licensed tree service provider to come and look at any tree removals or really anything tree for that matter. Great blog. Enjoyed reading this. Glad I ran into this.
This blog is great! Magnolia’s indeed are very sensitive when it comes to just about everything for caring for them but did you know that Magnolia blooms in April to June and usually the first flowers develops in about seven years after planting. This blog has been very helpful to those who have magnolia trees on their property. I have worked with many Magnolia’s in the past and these are excellent tips, I refer all my magnolia customers to this blog!
Thank You!
Great tips! My neighbor actually has one of these amazing plants and I’ve done my research as well. Thanks to bees, magnolias flourish and can live up to 100 years! One main reason for that is because bees are actually one the main pollinators of magnolias. These plants are ancient. Great blog!
We cut down magnolia trees all the time as part of our work and it’s always a bummer getting rid of such unique trees.