California Pepper Tree or Mexican Pepper tree
Question from Spencer:
I had lunch today with a lady who mentioned she had a Mexican Pepper tree dropping pepper all other her front yard. Suppose that might be the same tree as a California Pepper Tree?
Answer from Pat:
Peppers are love/hate trees—gardeners love them or hate them and for good reason both ways. When people use the common name “Mexican pepper tree” they usually mean the Brazilian pepper tree (Schinus terebinthefolius), not the California pepper tree from Peru (Schinus molle.) Mexican or Brazilian pepper tree is a really bad actor since it suckers so much from the ground and also drops a ton of red dried out berries in fall especially this year after heavy rains last spring made these trees carry many more of the colorful red berries than usual. It is also highly invasive. Most people who have it seem to hate it, but abhor it even worse if it’s growing next door. Nonetheless, I have seen a few handsome Brazilian or Mexican pepper trees and the red peppers are undeniably pretty when they are on the tree in early summer. It is drought-resistant and considered medicinal in South America. Also it brings birds, but I would never plant one or allow one to grow on my property. When they sprout in my garden from seeds brought by birds, I pull them out.
California pepper tree (Schinus molle) is a much better tree, just a messy one. It also brings many birds and old specimens can have great character, especially their twisted and gnarled trunks. Its light green feathery foliage is a refreshing sight in a dry landscape, and it is highly drought resistant. It’s one of the best shade trees for hot interior zones. When I lived at the foot of Mount Baldy in Claremont, California early in my marriage there was one in a vacant lot behind our garden. It added to our privacy and our view and helped keep my garden cooler than it otherwise would have been. No one ever watered that tree but it thrived by sending roots deep to ground water. But you can’t grow anything under California pepper trees except in containers and hanging baskets and it scatters debris onto the ground on a more or less full-time basis. Unfortunately, Schinuse molle is subject in the last few years to pepper tree psyllid (Calophya rubra), but I think that it’s being controlled better now by beneficials.
can you use the dropped leaves for compost?
Gardeners often wonder if various kinds of leaves, especially eucalyptus leaves and walnut leaves, can be used for compost, since the leaves of these trees contain allelophathic oils and compounds that kill some plants and prevent seeds from sprouting, but theoretically any kind of leaf finally will finally rot and the process of rotting breaks down the chemistry of the originaly leaves including the various oils and compounds that might have originally existed in the leaves. Also very organic soils have been shown to allow plants to fight off the allelopathy of juglans, which is the compound in walnut wood, roots, and leaves that discourages growth of other plants that might compete with a walnut tree for nutrients.
The leaves of California pepper trees make excellent compost and they rot quickly. Leaves of Mexican pepper tree take longer to rot but also will eventually turn into perfectly good compost. Leaves of either of these trees and can be used in the compost pile along with other materials.
The one leaf I would not use in a compost pile is oleander because it is poisonous, but doubtless it would also break down in soil eventually. Nonetheless, I would not use oleander leaves in compost. Also one should never burn the wood of oleander, since the smoke is harmful. The best thing to do with oleander clippings is to bundle them and send them to the dump along with green materials.
We removed a Ca Pepper Tree from our yard a few years ago. Do you have any advice on how I can bring the soil back to grow other plants?
I’ve managed to get a few tomatoes to grow in a spot not far from the root but they are undersized. I’ve been adding a lot of organic compost but I’m not sure what the soil needs. Thank you!
I just removed a Calif pepper/mexican pepper. I have a chipper and reduced it to one 50 gallon trashcan. Can I let it compost over winter and use it in the vegetable area next spring ? Since not much will grow around peppers I thought maybe it could sterilize the ground. Thank you
First as far as the quality of the chipper materials from a California pepper tree (Schinus molle) there is no problem. Secondly, composting them over winter in California and then digging the stuff into your veggie garden the following spring, there would be a huge problem and you would not be able to grow anything there without great trouble for a number of years until you had increased nitrogen levels back up to where the ground could support plants. Digging raw un-rotted wood and/or leaves, twigs etc, chipper materials in other words into the ground is one of the biggest no-no’s in gardening. What you have is fine to use as mulch on top of the ground but must never be dug into the soil until it is fully composted.
Here is the rule: Never dig un-rotted carbonated materials, such as woody mulch, chipper materials or raw sawdust into the soil or it will rob nitrogen from the ground in order to rot. (This process can take years and all plants you plant there would meanwhile die.)
The only organic matter that can safely combined into garden soil is fully rotted compost. You can purchase bagged or trucked compost or you can make your own compost by constructing a compost pile by layering nitrogenous organic materials such as kitchen peelings, coffee grounds, tea leaves, fresh green leaves, freshly cut green lawn grass (always mix grass in or it makes an impenetrable mat), or hot manure such as fresh chicken manure—even a lot of human urine would work but that is pretty salty— in a pile that is roughly 3 feet square. When the pile heats up, toss and turn it to add oxygen and keep it from cooling down, add water to keep it moist as necessary and eventually when it is done it will cool down and you will have wonderful smelling compost to use in your garden. I suggest you attend a class on how to compost. If you are strong and healthy it is a fun thing to do and will give you a sense of huge satisfaction. When I was younger I had the fun of making compost the right way a number of times and here is what you get in the end: When you can pick the stuff up by the handful and you cannot tell what went into it nor see any pieces of wood or leaf or lumps or whatever, that’s when it’s ready to dig into the garden and improve the humus content of the soil.
As mentioned above, you can purchase compost already made or you can make it a number of ways including slow ways and fast ways. I wrote 2 articles on my own adventures with the compost pile for the San Diego Reader. I think you would greatly enjoy reading these.http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/aug/24/feature-adventures-compost-pile-part-2/