One neighbour who has been here for about 3 years tells me it has grown very little in that time. In the 6 or so months we have been here, it put out a couple of new shoots from the BASE, but little else, and when it flowered a few months ago, it was only very sparsely.

I'm hoping one of you knowledgeable folks can advise me on the right way to go about pruning it, or even whether I should.

We have fed it (and everything else) lightly on CK77 2 or 3 times while we have in the time we have been here. Does it need anything else?

Pam

From my experience Barklyas are notoriously slow growers but benefit from a good feed, plenty of mulch and moisture. Remember they are rainforest plants. I have one that is six years old and the plant is probably just over two meters tall. My plant has been inhibited by three years of drought and the cooler NSW climate. But this summer, with good rains and plenty of Dynamic Lifter, the thing has put on almost another metre of growth.

There is one I drive past in a Turramurra High School and it is a beautiful mature tree that produces a magnificent display every Summer.

Robert, I was just thinking it might encourage it to put out some new growth, and subsequently, to hopefully flower better next Summer.

If it will tolerate Dynamic Lifter I will try feeding it with that. The soil here is nothing more than a fine dust, with no organic matter whatsoever. I have set about rectifying that where I can, but this tree also has to compete for water with 2 very large she-aoks, and a huge poinciana and leopard tree (along with a few others) all within only a few metres.

Many thanks for your input.

I think all that competition may well be the reason for it's problems.

There is another, larger Barklya a few metres from the one in question, though it doesn't look as if it has ever flowered - I put that down to the fact that it receives very little sun.