I planted a Chorisia (Silk Floss/Kapok) tree in my garden about 1.5 years ago. It is doing well in the sense that it is growing fast (it is now about 8-9 meters tall) but it has never lost it leaves or flowered. Every single leaf has a brown tip, with the exact same distribution. There is no droop on the leaves or evidence of ibugs or mildew of any kind (although I have recenlty discovered that the adajecent Frangipani trees have some kind of white aphid on them, which I have treated about a month ago with Comfidor). One theroy is that the leaves have suffered some kind of "fertiliser burn" - I have never fertilised the tree but it was planted in new soil (we inherited an old and very neglected garden). Note that a huge Mulberry tree stood about one meter away from the Chorisia, and was chopped down and poisoned just before the chorisia was planted, in a way which my current gardener says was inappropriate. Two jasmines which were planted soon after near the mulberry stump died. I am wondering if some residual poison (white, powdery stuff) could be in the soil near the chorisia roots, causing it to have this leaf and flower problem? Or could it just be lack of water? Help!! I love this tree and its blooms but no-one seems to know what is wrong with it.
Basically, it needs to get quite big before it is likely to flower. Height at first flowering is very variable, depending on site, but from my observation the trunk needs to be 30-40 cm diameter. As for leaves not dropping, that also seems to vary both from tree to tree and from site to site. I have seen them flowering in full leaf. Browning of leaflet tips is probably nothing to worry about as long as the plant is otherwise healthy, it's probably just a result of your dry atmosphere.
Thanks for your reply. I measured the base of the tree trunk - it is 80 cm in diameter! The tree is around 8 meters tall - it is a significant size. It has never had any direct irrigation -just the nearby general drip irrigation that runs along the bed where it is sited. We have no rain here at all for 7-8 months in the summer, then a warm, wet winter. Could you please advise on the correct irrigation for a tree like this? Is there some kind of fertiliser that would encourage flowering, such as phophorus?
