Same with mine. They seem to be very bushy when young.
Definitely tree-like when mature though. This was one I saw in Tokyo last Christmas:
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@Plants Curious–where did you hear that? I’m trying to track down as much info on Yangmei as I can fine. Yes, the Chinese say 4.5-5.5 is optimal. Chat GPT will probably tell you the same thing. I’ve translated a lot of Chinese information here if you want to see what I have so far: Yangmei Information
The Chinese also talk about low pH problems below 4, but then mention high pH problems as being >8, so I suspect they will do ok in a pH range above 5.5.
I will be using Myrica californica as my rootstock because it is the most easily obtainable in NorCal. Supposedly the ideal pH range for that plant is a little higher than Myrica rubra at about 5.0-6.5. I saw you were having trouble finding good rootstock. Not sure where you are located, but I was able to get 5 gal Myrica californica plants from Green Acres in the Sacramento area for $35 ea. They were pretty healthy looking too.
Bill is arranging a group order over on tropicalfruitforum. If you want some it may not be too late to order, but I think he will be placing the order soon. Have you found any other sources of scion wood? I ordered from Marta earlier but she only has a couple of varieties available (Adam & Eve). I’ve seen the Changyun.shop and hardtofindtrees.com sites but I heard someone on Facebook say they didn’t get what they ordered so I’m cautious of ordering from them. I think Bill’s order will probably be your best bet unless you know of something else.
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That is spectacular wonder what type? Thanks for all the great information Jerry.
Yes, I tried californica, and yes, I have issues with it. The issue might be specific to my climate. Californica grows along the Pacific coast in mild weather without summer water. I grow my plants in the hot Sacramento Valley and need to irrigate my plants. I killed at least four potted californica in my yard, some already grafted with yangmei. Maybe, if I had them in the ground, the results have been different. I haven’t killed a single potted pensilvanica. For cerifera, I haven’t kept them long in the pots, so I don’t know
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@Marta Thats good to know. Where do you get cerifera and pennsylvanica from? I’ve had trouble finding them.
Pete thank you. I was told by a friend that obtained the little tree for me. He speaks Chinese and has researched many documented articles how they grow Yangmei in China. Appearantly he mentioned they all claim 4.5-6.5 ph.
Here is one I actually found and sent him. It also mentioned low ph. But I believe he said they have a problem as well being too low of a ph.
Here’s a link. I found that from Simon on TFF I believe.
Below is something my friend had translated as far as ph.
The highlighted part (ph) is what my friend just translated. The first two characters 东魁 is Dongkui.
I have seen Bill seem like one the original providers but gets the trees bareroot from China right? I could be mistaken but seems a lot of folks had to do a lot of work with RKN which scares me.
I was just at Green Acres in Citrus Hights and they said they don’t have any in stock now but can special order M Californica in 5g and 15g sizes but they were pretty expensive. I need to figure out something because I’m going to remove this little plant from its heavy soil soon. So if it dies I’d like some insurance. I have read the roots are brittle so I’m using water to remove the soil it’s in now and was planning on re potting in a larger container with EB Stone Azalia, Cameliia & Acid mix which they mention is 5.82 to 6.3ph. Here’s my little tree you can see how small it is by the pruners.
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That was a long time ago when Four Winds nursery was closing their site in Winters and I got these
@Plants Thanks! I’ll have to look through that article.
Yeah I agree. I don’t want to take chances with RKN. I plan to carefully quarantine the trees and use the scion wood to graft onto other rootstock for planting. Marta mentioned that she has had problems with Myrica californica dying but I don’t have any good source for the other rootstocks. I’ll be putting mine in the ground, so maybe that will help them survive. I’ll try to bury the graft like Marta mentioned. I would avoid the Chinese sourced trees entirely, but I don’t know of any other source of scion wood. Not that I would take chances with RKN, but I was wondering if the nodules could have possibly been from the Frankia bacteria. I never saw any good photos of the RKN and I’m certainly not an expert on the issue, but I know they both produce nodules on the roots.
If Citrus Heights isn’t helping you out with myrica californica, you can go up to the Rocklin store. If you ask for Tony, he was really helpful and can special order it. The 5 gal were $35 each and they were in good shape. It only takes about a week to get them in. He will probably say something like “I just had a guy asking for a bunch of these…” Haha.
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@Marta Ah ok… I’ll have to try growing out some Myrica rubra rootstock from seed for future use. Have you been able to get suitable rootstock from seeds in a one year period, or does it usually take two years?
Ok I just ordered some pensyvanica from Wisconsin. I’ll split the scion wood between the two rootstocks to be safe. 
It takes more than a year for sure to get rubra to the graftable size
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@Plants Yeah I don’t know Chinese, but my friend Google does 
It says that the suitable pH range for Dongkui specifically is 5.5 to 6.0 while the suitable range for other varieties is 5.0 to 5.5. Elsewhere it says the suitable range for Yangmei is 4.5 to 6.0, so I’m going to go with that. It also mentions that >6.5 is considered Very High pH for Yangmei, so maybe I was wrong about it being tolerant of more neutral pH values.
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Interesting 
Ha I was just at the Rocklin one. The manager I met last time is a great guy. I will check it out thanks. Also here’s a picture of what someone’s Yangmei roots from another forum online mentioned above. I’m not a member there but there’s some good info for tropicals. This tree was from the group buy. To me this would be a nightmare so just want anyone here to be aware before planting any imported trees.
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This is exactly why I would much prefer scionwood to trees.
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I’ve posted it a lot on here but that wasn’t my experience. This is without rinsing them, straight out of the box in that like gelatin to keep them moist
Hard to see all the growth nodes in a photo now, but I’ll update as it grows. As @a_Vivaldi mentioned southern wax Myrtle grows literally everywhere here, so I can trial a wild graft or two to see how they do.
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You’re welcome. I’m certain it was just a seedling. There is much less commercial cultivation of yangmei in Japan than in southern China.
The largest of my 3 yr old seedlings have a diameter around 8 mm. The rest are much smaller, but I haven’t babied them much. I’m a little scared to fertilize them. My seedlings grew about 4 inches the first year, so it’ll definitely take longer than a year to get something graftable.
I think in southern China where almost all of the commercial farms are you would have a hard time finding soil with a pH higher than 6.5, so it may just be a lack of data rather than evidence of yangmei being intolerant of higher pH.
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I also tend to think the Ph is incorrect. Big difference in optimal PH and death due to alkalinity also. Blueberries will live in alkaline soil, but they want it acidic. Most fruit prefers some level of acidity but doesn’t require it to survive.
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It’s too bad whomever cut that tree didn’t leave a tad bit more on there. It’s a very nice tree though and the roots look big and strong. Hopefully there’s no galls in there I can’t see any in the picture. 
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Here is the link to the video of my almost 5 year old seedling I just uploaded. It still has serrated leaves. They stay young for a while https://youtube.com/shorts/eXH0-gbpbhI?si=3Bhnk0vGS7QsZMgk
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