Gold Medallion Tree
Gardening Question From Jack:
I planted a 7 year old Gold Medallion tree 3 years ago its 10 years old 15′ tall 8-10′ around very healthy tree trunk 8″ in diameter beautiful tree. The problem is no blooms in 3 years the first year I planted it bloomed every year after none.
Fertilizer. I was told to use 12-6-8 mix 1:1 with milorganite, 3lbs each. Now the nursery tells me bloom buster 12-4-12 no milorganite I live in Orlando Fla and Epcot has awesome GM so its not the area, my dirt down 2 foot is clay type soil and I have always had a 6 foot circle with no grass to compete and keep light mulch and add dirt when small roots show plus water twice a week deep water 45 minutes the tree is strong dark green and get morning and afternoon sun with a 2 – 3 hour break from sun from 2 to 5 any suggestions.
Answer From Pat:
It sounds as if you are feeding so much nitrogen that the tree grows instead of flowering. I would stop fertilizing with any nitrogen altogether. Though surrounded by a circle of soil, it be also getting lawn fertilizer. If so, that means even more nitrogen. The other possibility is too much shade, but I agree with your nursery. Try zapping it with bloom ingredients: Phosphorus and Potassium. You could even pour on a liquid form for quicker results.
Photo by Tatters ✾ 
I planted my cassia tree about 4 years ago. It grows fast and looks healthy. However, despite pruning inn the fall it never blooms. Any suggestion?
Prune Gold Medallion tree (Cassia leptophylla) only to shape and control spread. If you are pruning such a young tree too hard every fall you may be cutting off all the wood that would bloom the following year. This tree will grow near the coast but likes a hot spot. If grown in a cold wind it will bloom less.
Hi Pat, we would like to grow from seed a number of Cassia leptophylla (Gold Medallion) trees.
We have collected a number of seed pods from some trees we found in a parking lot. We have tried starting the seeds without doing anything to them and we tried starting them by scarifying them in boiling water and even tried physically scraping the covering of the seeds with a razor knife. So far, we have had no success in getting any of them to germinate.
We read that these seeds might need to be scarified in sulfuric acid. Do you have any experience with this? If so, how concentrated should the acid be and where did you obtain it? Typical automotive battery acid is a relatively low concentration, 30 – 50% H2SO4
Also, could the seeds be too old? I pulled the pods from trees in January of 2018 but don’t know how long those pods have been hanging there. How can we tell if the seed pods are ready to be harvested or too old to be used? Do you have any tricks or tips about starting these particular types of seeds?
Pick the fallen seed pods off the ground. Don’t pick them off the tree since seeds might not be mature. Remove seeds from pods. They are very poisonous so wash hands and utensils after using. Put seeds into a glass jar. Measure height of seeds with a ruler. This counts as one part. Now boil a kettle of water. Pour ten parts of boiling water over the seeds. Screw top on the jar. Put in a safe place away from children. Leave for 24 hours and then plant.
I am not sure why the seeds you scarified with boiling water didn’t sprout. Chances are the seeds you picked from the tree were not full grown or cured. Think of nature. Seeds fall to the ground before sprouting. Another thought: maybe you didn’t leave them in the water long enough.
TREE (PLANTED FROM 15 GALLON) IN AUGUST LOOKED BEAUTIFUL ABOUT 7/1/18 WITH FLOWERS COMING OUT.
LAST COUPLE OF DAYS OF 110 TEMPERATURE ALL OF A SUDDEN THE LEAVES ARE TURNING BROWN AND SHRIVELING
(SEROUSLY STARTED MAYBE 7/4?). LOOKS LIKE THE POOR THING IS SUDDENLY DYING. I WATER IT DECENTLY EVERY 2ND DAY AND YESTERDAY (7/7) GAVE IT ABOUT 20 MINUTES OF A FULL HOSE. ANY IDEAS WOULD BE APPRECIATED. THANK YOU.
Global warming and resultant climate change is increasing growth for some plants and harming others. Also, August is not a good month for planting anything, even tropicals. which are best planted in May. However, this tree was planted last year and by now the roots should have spread out into the surrounding soil.
Many times when hot weather harms a tropical or sub-tropical plant as much as you describe, the problem is that the tree was never planted in the right way in the first place. I say this because established plants withstand heat spells better than newly planted ones. If the roots of this tree were not properly loosened up at planting time, but instead the tree was simply plunked into the planting hole, then sudden stress can harm the tree.
It is always best to loosen the roots of plants after you slide them out of the can and before planting them. Also it is always to plant trees straight into the native soil. Filling a planting hole with planter mix is a mistaken practice since it simply creates an underground container for the roots and in this case the roots may never penetrate the “walls”
of the planting hole and thus do not get out into the surrounding soil. This can create a problem when extreme heat strikes such as what has recently happened. Dry ground surrounding the planting hole will suck all the water away from the hole.
Another problem can occur when gardeners fail to realize that they must widen watering basins as trees grow and water trees further out from the trunk. When roots are successful in penetrating the surrounding soil, as they should, they need to be watered out under the drip line of the tree, not right next to the trunk. There are no feeder roots there and watering next to the trunk will just result in root rot. Sometimes the best solution is to set up a sprinkler under the drip line and let it run slowly and move it around the tree. Also try digging down 6 feet away from the tree and seeing how dry the soil is. If the soil is dry as a bone, water the whole area.
I live in Mission Viejo and have 3 golden medallion trees that I planted in 2006. We prune them every year in early December. The last three summers they have started to drop their leaves in starting July instead of in the fall. I am not applying any fertilizer other than mulch and occasional miracle grow. Other than the leaf drop, they look beautifully healthy. Do you have any suggestions.
Once again this change is due to the unusual sudden changes in temperatures that our plants have been subjected to. Our usual climate has become erratic. Plants That once bloomed only in winter now bloom in summer and vice versatile. Some plants drop leaves at the wrong time of year.