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chatbud

By Chatbud

Singapore

Is it bad to have mistletoe growing on my Wrightia?

Are these mistletoe growing on my Wrightia? I googled it and "parasitic" and "...draws nutrients from host" were all over the internet pages. Is it actually harmful to the host? Should I rip them off asap??

Lastly, are there many varieties of mistletoe?




Answers

 

How did it get there? Crazy! Host plants will support such things, totally unharmed and without any ill effect for years. I'm intrigued to know how it started there. Is the wrightia grown as a bonsai or dwarfed plant. It is often used as such.
W

31 Jul, 2013

 

When a bird perches on your tree or in this case shrub it wipes its beak on the trunk to get rid of the seed. It is covered in sticky stuff which lets it stick to the host. It eventually starts growing on the tree.

31 Jul, 2013

 

Thank u, worthy. good to hear the Wrightia won't be harmed in any way. this was grown from a 6" seedling 4 years ago so it's very precious to me. it is now 4.5 ft tall now. it's the big-leaf and not the small-leaf/dwarf variety used as bonsai. i'm letting it grow like crazy ti shield the orchids nearby.

Yes, i believe the birds deposited here. they come for the Wrightia flowers daily + bees and insects of sorts.

1 Aug, 2013

 

Looking at your photo trying to see the leaf structure. The end pair on each stem should be a pair, opposite, with a bud between them. All mistletoe leaves are green, perhaps a bit yellowish sometimes, whereas those at the end of the shoot of your plant appear reddish. Not sure of the ident. I know you're in foreign parts for a mistletoe, too, and I'm wondering if it's something else. Working on it . . .

1 Aug, 2013

 

For interest, there is a red mistletoe native to New Zealand, and the name mistletoe is applied to similar plants of several genera, all of which are hemi-parasitic on other plants or trees. Which one yours is I cannot find out - yet!

1 Aug, 2013

How do I say thanks?

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