Cape Chestnut tree
Question from Cynthia:
I have a 20yr old Cape Chestnut tree and it only blooms about 3 weeks a year. It’s about 20ft tall and appears in good health. I see others around that bloom for 2-3 months. Anything I am doing wrong? It produces plenty of blooms, they just don’t stay on tree long. I live in Mt Helix area of La Mesa, tree is in sunny but somewhat windy location. I deep water it about 3 times a year. I have seen ones in Kensington and Mission Hills that bloom much longer…..I have also seen one in Mt Helix with longer bloom season.
Answer from Pat:
Many subtropical flowering trees do not like cold wind. Jacaranda for example, will not bloom at all in cold wind. It likes a warm protected place, if possible with reflected heat. I fear that is the reason that your Cape chestnut does not bloom as long as it should. Would it be possible to plant some other trees as a windbreak?
Have you trimmmed or laced your C. Chestnut? I just bought a home near Lk. Murray in La Mesa. The C. Chestnut on the property appears to be about 10-20 years old. Incidently, it sits on a ridge, with moderate winds-it’s blooming now. Previous owner/trimmer appears to have “end trimmed” larger branches…should this tree be laced out instead when it comes back from the hack job?
Thanks!
I deeply sympathize with you regarding what happened to your Cape Chestnut (Calodendrum capanse). Hacking trees back through the main scaffold branches is a practice that has long been discredited by arborists. Except in the case of skilled pollarding of a London plane tree (Platanus x hispanica, P. x acerifolius), any tree trimmer should refuse to treat a tree in this manner even when urged to do so by an ignorant home owner. Unfortunately, there are some tree pruners who are totally uneducated, know nothing whatsoever about correct pruning and most likely have never read any book let alone one on pruning. Now that the damage is done, there will be a proliferation of thin branches springing from each of the drastic cuts you have described. Yes, I would definitely thin these out in order to correct the trees shape and future growth. Since it is now late October, I would wait until spring after all danger of frost has passed to do this work. I have seen some badly hacked Kaffirboom coral trees (Erythrina caffra) brought back to health by selective pruning, or as you called it, “thinning.” The best way to do this is to thin the proliferating branches so you leave just three of the strongest and best placed ones springing from each disastrous cut. Fortunately, Cape chestnut is tolerant of pruning, so it should bounce back in a few years. In the case of coral trees where the proliferating twiggy growth was thinned to three, I have seen that tip growth will resume flowering in two or three years time and eventually the tree returned to a good shape. I hope that will be the case for your tree also. Cape chestnut does not bloom when young. Thus the flowering tip growth may need to be springing from wood that has hardened off for two or three years before the tree can resume flowering.
I am interested in buying a Cape Chestnut tree and, so far, have had no luck in finding one.
Does anyone know where I could find one to buy?
Thank you!