How to Grow Red-backed Chinese Laurel? A Detailed Guide to Cultivation Methods

Growing Techniques Jan 1, 1970 0 views

Temperature: Red-backed Chinese Laurel (Excoecaria cochinchinensis) is a subtropical plant and is not cold-hardy. The suitable growing temperature is between 15-25°C, and the overwintering temperature must not be lower than 5°C. Light: It tolerates partial shade and prefers scattered light; strong direct sunlight exposure must be avoided. In summer, it needs to be placed in a shaded and well-ventilated spot, which helps maintain the deep green color of its leaves.

Temperature

Red-backed Chinese Laurel (Excoecaria cochinchinensis) is a subtropical plant and is not cold-hardy. The suitable growing temperature is between 15-25°C, and the overwintering temperature must not be lower than 5°C.

Light

It tolerates partial shade and prefers scattered light; strong direct sunlight exposure must be avoided. In summer, it needs to be placed in a shaded and well-ventilated spot, which helps maintain the deep green color of its leaves.

Watering

Red-backed Chinese Laurel (Excoecaria cochinchinensis) prefers a moist growing environment but is averse to waterlogging. During the growing season, water thoroughly to keep the potting soil and surrounding environment moist, but be careful to avoid standing water. In winter, reduce watering; generally, watering once every 7-10 days is sufficient, and the potting soil can be kept slightly moist to somewhat dry.

Fertilizing

When planting or repotting and changing the soil, an appropriate amount of compound fertilizer can be applied as a base fertilizer. During the growing season, apply a compound fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium once about every half month. During the flowering period, spray a 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution twice. No fertilizing is needed in midsummer and winter.

Soil

It prefers fertile, loose, well-draining sandy loam soil.

Propagation Methods

Two propagation methods can be used: root division and cuttings. The root division method is generally carried out in March and April each year, selecting 2-3 year old seedlings for division and planting. The most common is cutting propagation: select vigorous one-year-old branches as cuttings, cut them into sections of three nodes each, and insert them into plain soil to a depth of about 23 cm. Keep them shaded and moist, and roots will form in about two months.

Cultivation Methods and Precautions for Red-backed Chinese Laurel

Chinese Scientific Name: Red-backed Chinese Laurel

Latin Scientific Name: Excoecaria cochinchinensis Lour

Alternative Names: Hongzimu, Zibeigui

Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Angiospermae

Class: Dicotyledoneae

Order: Euphorbiales

Suborder: Euphorbiineae

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Genus: Excoecaria

Species: Excoecaria cochinchinensis

Distribution: Commonly cultivated in Taiwan, China, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and other areas of China. Also found in various countries in Southeast Asia.

Family Catalogue Number: 174

Red-backed Chinese Laurel, namely Excoecaria cochinchinensis, is an evergreen small shrub in the Euphorbiaceae family, named for the red color of the underside of its leaves. It is an ornamental foliage and flowering plant with relatively high practical value. In the Yangtze River basin and areas to the south in China, it is commonly used as a potted plant, placed on windowsills, balconies, or in courtyards, and can also be used medicinally.

1. Morphological Characteristics

Evergreen shrub, up to about 1 m tall; branches glabrous, with numerous lenticels. Leaves opposite, rarely also alternate or nearly whorled in threes, papery, leaf blades narrowly elliptic or oblong, 6-14 cm long, 1.2-4 cm wide, apex long acuminate, base gradually narrowed, margins with sparse fine teeth, teeth spaced 3-10 mm apart, both surfaces glabrous, adaxial surface green, abaxial surface purplish red or blood-red; midrib raised on both surfaces, lateral veins 8-12 pairs, arcuately ascending, curved and arched near the margin to connect, reticulate veins inconspicuous; petiole 3-10 mm long, eglandular; stipules ovate, apex acute, about 1 mm long. Flowers unisexual, dioecious, aggregated into axillary or rarely also terminal racemes; male inflorescences 1-2 cm long; female inflorescences composed of 3-5 flowers, slightly shorter than male inflorescences. Male flowers: pedicel about 1.5 mm long; bracts broadly ovate, length and width nearly equal, about 1.7 mm, apex mucronate and finely toothed, base with 1 gland on each side of the adaxial surface, each bract bearing only 1 flower; bracteoles 2, linear, about 1.5 mm long, apex acute, upper part with lacerate fine teeth, base also with 1 gland on each side; sepals 3, lanceolate, about 1.2 mm long, apex finely toothed; stamens long-exserted beyond the sepals, anthers circular, slightly shorter than the filaments. Female flowers: pedicel stout, 1.5-2 mm long; bracts and bracteoles same as those of male flowers; sepals 3, slightly connate at the base, ovate, 1.8 mm long, nearly 1.2 mm wide; ovary globose, glabrous; styles 3, free or more or less connate at the base, about 2.2 mm long. Capsule globose, about 8 mm in diameter, base truncate, apex concave; seeds nearly globose, about 2.5 mm in diameter. Flowering period nearly year-round.

2. Growing Environment

Not tolerant of drought, not very cold-hardy; optimum growing temperature 15-25°C, winter temperature not lower than 5°C. Tolerates partial shade, avoids direct sunlight exposure; placing it in a shaded spot in summer can maintain the deep green leaf color. Requires fertile, well-draining sandy loam soil.

3. Distribution

Distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and other areas of southern China.

4. Propagation Methods

Because the demand for Excoecaria cochinchinensis seedlings is large, the rapid cutting propagation method is widely used.

Cutting Time

The best time is before the spring buds begin to sprout; during this period, the branches contain abundant hormones and have accumulated many nutrients, and after cutting, as temperatures rise, the cuttings quickly produce callus tissue. If this timing is missed, cuttings can be taken from late July to mid-August, after the spring shoots stop growing and before the flower buds and autumn shoots begin to sprout, but young shoots that grew in the current spring must be selected as cuttings to achieve an ideal survival rate.

Cutting Bed Preparation

When taking cuttings, choose a sunny spot and dig a flat-bottomed rectangular pit 12 m long, 1.2 m wide, and 0.7 m deep. Fill the bottom with a 40 cm thick layer of manure or other heat-generating material, then spread a layer of 15-20 cm of vermiculite and perlite on top as the cutting substrate for the seedbed. After cutting, build a small plastic arched tunnel 50 cm high and a shade shed 1 m high. After the seedbed is prepared, strictly disinfect the soil with a 0.5% potassium permanganate aqueous solution to prevent damping-off and rot diseases in the seedlings.

Cutting Operation

When taking cuttings, select healthy, pest- and disease-free autumn shoots from the previous year as cuttings, cut them into 8-10 cm lengths, retain 2-3 leaves at the top, then soak the base 2 cm of the cuttings in a 0.05%-0.1% naphthalene acetic acid aqueous solution for about 5 seconds. Cut, soak, and insert in sequence. When inserting, follow a 10×10 cm plant and row spacing, first make a small hole with a wooden (bamboo) stick, insert the cutting, cover with substrate and press lightly to firm, water thoroughly with a fine-nozzle watering can, then cover with plastic film and a straw curtain shade shed. The autumn cutting method is the same as in spring, but temperature must be especially well controlled to prevent excessively high temperatures from affecting survival.

Post-Cutting Management

【Temperature]: Strictly control the temperature of the seedbed substrate at 26°C-28°C and the air temperature at 23°C-25°C. Note that the air temperature must not be higher than the soil temperature; otherwise, the cuttings will sprout before rooting, or even fail to root, causing a false-survival phenomenon and eventually withering and dying.

【Light]: After 7-10 days of cutting, the shade shed's light transmittance should reach about 30%, allowing the cuttings to receive thin scattered light to facilitate leaf photosynthesis and promote callus tissue formation at the base of the cuttings so that rooting begins. When about 80% of the cuttings have rooted and the roots are 2-3 cm long, remove the plastic film; before 11 a.m. and after 5 p.m., remove the straw curtains to promote healthy growth of the seedlings.
【Water and Fertilizer]: After cutting, spray at least two to three times a day; ventilate every two to three days; keep the substrate moist; and control the relative air humidity at about 90%. At the same time, after the cuttings have rooted, apply a 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate aqueous solution as a foliar fertilizer once a week to promote seedling growth.