Ginkgo Biloba Tree Gardening Tips

Growth

• When grown in an outdoor garden, Ginkgo Biloba requires very little care. These trees are excessively long-lived, even by tree standards, and hardy enough to be one of the very few things to survive Hiroshima. Forests of Ginkgo in at least two secluded mountain valleys of southeastern China are believed to be wild plants that propagate naturally by seed. However, they do grow excessively slowly and the female tree, which produces inedible and foul-smelling fruit, generally takes at least 15 years to flower.

Soil

• Ginkgo Biloba trees favor a deep, rich and easily crumbled soil that is a fairly equal mixture of sand and silt with a little clay to promote drainage. They will grow well at a pH range between 3.7 and 7.0, but botanists recommend 5.5 for optimum growth. However, Ginkgo will thrive in very unfavorable conditions, including soil quality, pH and pollution, so much so that it is becoming a very popular tree to plant along metropolitan streets in the United States.

Bonsai

• Ginkgo trees up to 10 years of age need to be repotted each spring, preferably just before new leaves begin appearing to promote healthy growth. Older trees need repotted only as needed, usually about every two or three years. The bark is delicate and scars from pruning are permanent. The best pruning times are spring and fall. Judicious care will reduce visible scarring, but if shaping is needed, it must be done gently with lightweight, aluminum wire.

Biodiversity

• Many nurseries and landscape professionals recommend planting only the male Ginkgo because the female produces foul-smelling, slimy fruit. The resulting preference for male clones, and lack of female plants, is leading to a lack of diversity in the cultivars of this species. Even with the recent discovery of the isolated Ginkgo forests in China, and the commercial breeding of the last several decades, Ginkgo is still listed on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Plants.