When and Where to Plant MT

[iamdave]

Hi guys!
I intend to plant MT in my back yard. What time of year is best for this? I live in a USDA 7a zone so there is potential for it to get colder than MT likes but that rarely happens and I feel like I could take measures to protect the plant on the occasions that it does.

I'm also wondering how much space I need. I can provide photos of the area I'm considering if that would be helpful. How tall will it get? How far from walls and concrete should it be?

Thanks!

 

[iamdave]

Bump?

 

[iamdave]

Ba-bump?

 

[Vodsel]

Hey iamdave,

Mimosa Tenuiflora does not seem to deal well with frost or freezing temperatures, particularly in the beginning. If you want to try to succeed keeping it outdoors there, I would suggest bringing it to its first winter outside as strong as possible.

In that sense, starting it indoors will help so you can move it outside as soon as freezing temperatures are over - early spring, I suppose. If you can keep it indoors for the first months, you could germinate it right away and plant it out in march.

Regarding the size, it's highly dependant on the conditions, but it can grow quite fast if you have good sun. One year old MT can easily reach 6-7 feet if there's plenty of space for roots. But of course you can prune it to direct growth as you please.

Before making big plans for a huge tree, I'd spend the first year making sure it will actually survive winter outdoors with 7a temperatures. If it does, then you can plan the growing space more confidently.

There's some general information about the plant in the second link in my signature.

 

[iamdave]

Hi Vodsel!
Thanks for the information! I'll read the links in your signature as well. If I keep it inside for a few months, will keeping it near a window that gets direct sunlight for 3-4 hours a day in the winter be sufficient or will I need grow lights of some kind?

Once I'm ready to plant it outside I intended to plant it in front of an eastward facing retaining wall where it will get full sun most of the day. The retaining wall absorbs a lot of heat during the day and will help keep it warm during the winter I think. The few times I've seen frost on the grass here so far it hasn't formed within a couple feet of the wall.

 

[Vodsel]

If I keep it inside for a few months, will keeping it near a window that gets direct sunlight for 3-4 hours a day in the winter be sufficient or will I need grow lights of some kind?

Grow lights may not be strictly necessary to make it grow, but they can help a lot in the early stages. 3-4 hours of good light a day are very little, and most likely you'll end up with weaker, elongated seedlings.

I would consider getting a pair of T4/T5 fluorescents for the months indoors, and a little fan. If you want a strong young plant in march, you're going to need them.

 

[jamie]

You cant grow it outside in zone 7a. Sorry. It does not even like winters outside where I am in zone 8b. It's going to die in a 7a winter.

If you want a tree to put outside in the ground, acacia acuminate likes it where I am, though 7a is a whole other climate compared to 8b.

Mimosa Hostilis does fine indoors under some lights near a window. Mine would be 8 feet by now if I had not been trimming it every few weeks..and you can harvest a lot of branches from just trimming it back. I dunno if branches are active but I have nearly 50g dry of branches saves up from trimming the last few months. Once I have 100g Im gunna do an extraction.

I don't even bother putting the mimosa outside in summer, as it does not seem to adjust well.and I have no idea why because it should. I have 4 large CFL flood lights over it and it gets window light. It grows fine in this setup indoors.

 

[iamdave]

Hmm. It sounds like I may be out of luck then. That's a bummer. I currently have a 600W metal halide light on an 18/6 schedule that I'm using to vegetate a few seedlings of another plant whose flowers I find beneficial. I could probably grow MT alongside these plants but I'm not sure how that would affect the plants I already have growing there. I'm using an organic soil for my medium--could the same soil be used for MT or does it have different enough needs that I would have to create a different mixture?

I'm pretty new to indoor growing and trying to grow two different plants at once with no prior experience growing anything to speak of may be more complicated than I can manage.

 

[Vodsel]

I could probably grow MT alongside these plants but I'm not sure how that would affect the plants I already have growing there.

If they are growing in separate containers, and the plants are started indoors so there's no big risk of importing pests, why would another plant affect them? I've seen MT and a mom of those flowery plants you mention and several other different species growing indoors under a few lights in perfect understanding and companionship.

I'm using an organic soil for my medium--could the same soil be used for MT or does it have different enough needs that I would have to create a different mixture?

It depends on how heavy it is in the humus/compost side the soil you're using. MT is fond of free-draining, well aired soils, so if yours is very thick, just toss in 30%+ perlite and it should be probably fine. My fav mix for them uses 40% coco coir, 20% compost/gardening soil, 20% perlite and 20% worm castings. Spongy and very difficult to overwater.

I'm pretty new to indoor growing and trying to grow two different plants at once with no prior experience growing anything to speak of may be more complicated than I can manage.

Not really. It's true that you'll have to know the basic needs of each different plant (frequency of watering and fertilization mostly) but for the indoor grow you mention with a HID light, the only issue might happen if you need to change the photoperiod. I'm not sure about how MT would respond indoors with a sudden decrease of 6+ hours of light, but if you are flowering somewhere else, I see no problem.

 

[iamdave]

If they are growing in separate containers, and the plants are started indoors so there's no big risk of importing pests, why would another plant affect them? I've seen MT and a mom of those flowery plants you mention and several other different species growing indoors under a few lights in perfect understanding and companionship.

They are in separate containers and they were started indoors. My concern is ventilation. I'm not sure how many plants my current set up can support. I may not have enough light either. My understanding is that, for my flowers, I need 100W per plant so I have six plants under a 600W light. MT seems like it would get quite a bit larger so would it need more light coverage?

It depends on how heavy it is in the humus/compost side the soil you're using. MT is fond of free-draining, well aired soils, so if yours is very thick, just toss in 30%+ perlite and it should be probably fine. My fav mix for them uses 40% coco coir, 20% compost/gardening soil, 20% perlite and 20% worm castings. Spongy and very difficult to overwater.

I'm using equal parts peat moss, humus and perlite. It sounds like my soil will work fine then.

I'm not sure about how MT would respond indoors with a sudden decrease of 6+ hours of light, but if you are flowering somewhere else, I see no problem.

For the time being I have only the single space in which to vegetate and flower so if I do it now there will be times when the photoperiod decreases and the light changes from MH to HPS. In the long run I'd like to have two separate spaces for this. Perhaps I should wait until I have a dedicated space for a mother to vegetate before I try to grow MT?

Thanks so much for dropping some knowledge on me!

 

[Vodsel]

My concern is ventilation. I'm not sure how many plants my current set up can support. I may not have enough light either. My understanding is that, for my flowers, I need 100W per plant so I have six plants under a 600W light. MT seems like it would get quite a bit larger so would it need more light coverage?

MT is a pretty good grower, but cannabis beats it hands down. Indoor cannabis can grow a foot a month, so by the time MT outgrows them, cannabis will be harvested and dried if you follow the regular cycle. I'm pretty sure you can fit a couple MT seedlings there without robbing any necessary light to the others. Just be careful and do not place them close to the MH, temperature can fry them.

if I do it now there will be times when the photoperiod decreases and the light changes from MH to HPS. In the long run I'd like to have two separate spaces for this. Perhaps I should wait until I have a dedicated space for a mother to vegetate before I try to grow MT?

I don't have enough experience to tell for sure. I know that once I moved one MT from "vegetation" area (18h under FLs) to a flowering little setup (under UFO type LED lamps) with a drastically shorter day period, and the MT did not like it much. I had to move her outdoors to get some late winter sun and recover. But I'm in a more friendly climate zone than yours.

The change to HPS spectrum should probably be fine, but the photoperiod change I'm not so sure. At least I would wait until MT seedlings were 4-5 months old to decrease hours of light that much, since they generally germinate in mid-to-late spring... and that timing hardly agrees with cannabis. You can always make the experiment... or as you say wait until you can give them a steady corner with long days.

 

[iamdave]

Good deal. I think I will wait until I can properly provide for them before I start. I plan to flower in a month or so and MT wouldn't be well established by then.

Thanks!