If the root ball is stuck it's best to use snips or a utility knife to cut the container away. Many nursery & garden centers offer a wide variety of containers to choose from. This will keep the drain holes from becoming stopped up with soil. Evergreen and highly adaptable to many environments, these tough and hardy plants can be kept outdoors or indoors depending on the space you have available. Come away from the house 2-1/2 or 3 feet. To use the podocarpus as a hedge, buy them small (1.5 to 2 feet high) in 3 Gallon or as high as 8 Feet Tall 25 Gallon Podocarpus; and plant them touching each other to create a good solid privacy Podocarpus Hedge. Water intoxication is rare, and it is very difficult to consume too much water by accident. Start by digging your planting hole at least two to three times as wide and not much deeper than the root ball. Too much or too little water seems to make the podocarpus plants more susceptible. Avoid the use of freshly chipped or shredded wood for mulch until it has cured in a pile for at least 6 months, a year is better. Using it as a blocking hedge - looks great, gets watered every other day, sometimes more. When you have filled the hole to the halfway point you can soak the soil. Don’t plant on wet soils. The plants on both sides should receive the same amount of water but the difference should be in how often they are watered. It is much hotter on the south side than the north side. If you are uncertain about soil drainage in the area you intend to plant your Podocarpus, it's well worth taking the time to test the drainage before planting. To conserve moisture and suppress weed growth, apply a 1 to 2" layer of shredded or chipped wood mulch or pine straw around the planting area. Hard pruning using bypass hand pruners or loppers to reduce size or for topiary purposes should be performed in late winter before new spring growth emerges. Why Are The Flowers On Autumn Twist Encore Azaleas Blooming Pink Instead of White? Alternatively, you can feed with a natural organic plant food. Podocarpus grow well in a wide range of soil pH ranging between 4.5 to 7.5 on the pH scale. Before filling your container with the soil mix, I suggest lining the bottom of the pot with shade cloth or a porous landscape fabric. In the absence of sufficient rainfall, water only as needed to keep the root ball and surrounding soil damp to moist. Privacy Screen Planting Design & Planting Tips >, Pringles Dwarf Podocarpus Yew - 3 Gallon Pot, Podocarpus Macrophyllus Upright Yew - 1 Gallon Pot, How To Train A Wisteria Vine To A Tree Form, Wilson Bros Gardens Customer Reviews (2020), How To Make Jelly From The Berries of A Callicarpa Beautyberry Bush, How To Use The Plant Finder On Wilson Bros Gardens, Most Frequently Asked Questions On Wilson Bros Gardens. Only occasionally does my husband have to remove a dead branch. However, established Podocarpus hedges don’t need much water. That said, to avoid damage to new growth that is stimulated by pruning, cease pruning your Podocarpus plants two months prior to the average first frost date in your area. When the weather is cool, reduce the times you water. How To Make Green, Oolong, And Black Tea From Tea Camellia Plants. The south wall will be more of a Watering: Water the podocarpus when the soil gets dry. Podocarpus (/ ˌ p oʊ d ə ˈ k ɑːr p ə s /) is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family, the Podocarpaceae. Podocarpus spp. Podocarpus will grow more slowly and have a looser appearance when grown in shade. Tree Characteristics. Podocarpus are also best used to create a fast growing hedge. Address issues that will direct or keep too much water around the tree's roots. Very alkaline or heavy soils may cause nutrient deficiencies. Fill a cup three-quarters of the way to the top with tap water and place the cut end of the podocarpus stem in the water.