Liming Helps stressed Torreya Taxifolia

Shoal Sanctuary (Florida Panhandle)
Nurturance of Torreya taxifolia

LIMING SUCCESS IN NORTHERN FLORIDA (historically native range)
In the photo essay that follows, CHRIS LARSON reports on the success in using lime to help yellowing Torreya taxifolia trees recover at www.ShoalSanctuary.com in the Florida Panhandle (Mossy Head FL). She reports that liming brought two of her Torreya taxifolia trees back to health (their leaves had begun to turn yellow) but were revitalized into green. She reports:
"In Summer 2001 we reintroduced 23 seedling Torreya Pines at Shoal Sanctuary in Mossy Head, FL. Over the past seven years all but eight have died off despite lavished attention. They turn yellow as a tell-tale sign of pending demise. Two of the them located at Totem Circle and one at the Gazebo were yellowing when Connie Barlow of Torreya Guardians visited in November 2007. Thanks to her agricultural lime treatment [using agricultural lime purchased at a hardware/garden store locally], they are all thriving. Wish I had known the magic of lime sooner. We now keep it handy for the slightest sign of yellow." — Chris Larson, www.ShoalSanctuary.com"

"Totem Pole" Tree


ABOVE LEFT: November 2007 Connie Barlow and husband Michael Dowd admire one of the Shoal Sanctuary Torreya trees planted in 2001. Although this one appears lush, a few of the branches on the western side of the tree are yellowing. Owner Chris Larsen reports that 3 of the original 8 individuals planted in 2001 yellowed and died, so this one may be on its way out.
ABOVE CENTER: The same tree in one month later, December 2007.
ABOVE RIGHT: The same tree in April 2008, with foliage fully recovered.

      "Totem Pole" Tree
MAY 2009
Celebrating a lush and healthy "Totem Pole" Tree in a Florida rain.

"Burn" Tree

Report by Chris Larson at www.ShoalSanctuary.com in the Florida Panhandle (Mossy Head FL):

   LEFT: Landowner Chris Larson stands by a Torreya taxifolia that she planted in 2001 from a potted seedling. Chris and her husband own the Shoal Sanctuary in the Florida Panhandle (west of the Apalachicola). Because they are managing the sanctuary for native diversity (including burning to encourage longleaf pine), this particular individual was completely denuded in a prairie fire in January 2007. She thought the leafless tree surely was dead, but just 10 months later, in November 2007 notice the rich growth! Chris is standing on the side of the tree that received the most intense flame, and thus the branch she holds in her right hand (and those immediately below it) are still denuded, and thus were killed.
RIGHT: 15 months post-burn, April 2008, the tree is lopsided but recovering well from the fire.


"Gazebo" Tree

   November 2007
This individual is expressing a lot of yellowed leaves (see closeup photo below). So when Connie Barlow visited the site in November 2007, she sprinkled agricultural lime around the base of the tree. (For a photograph of lime sprinkled around Torreya trees at the Atlanta Botanical Garden propagation center, click and scroll down to Photo F. Click here to learn about how "sudden oak death" is being fought in California by the use of lime around sickened oak trees.

   November 2007
Close-up of the Torreya tree at Shoal sanctuary (in 2007) pictured in Photo C above. Notice the yellowing leaves. This photo was taken immediately prior to liming.

WWW www.TorreyaGuardians.org

		November 2007 This individual is expressing a lot of yellowed leaves (see closeup photo below). So when Connie Barlow visited the site in November 2007, she sprinkled agricultural lime around the base of the tree. (For a photograph of lime sprinkled around Torreya trees at the Atlanta Botanical Garden propagation center, click and scroll down to Photo F. Click here to learn about how "sudden oak death" is being fought in California by the use of lime around sickened oak trees.
		November 2007 Close-up of the Torreya tree at Shoal sanctuary (in 2007) pictured in Photo C above. Notice the yellowing leaves. This photo was taken immediately prior to liming.