Ficus Rescue Project

Redwood Ryan · Apr 3, 2014

Hi everyone,

I rescued this Tigerbark from a nursery center today in the hopes of bringing it back to life. This is a tree from Meehan's that was being sold by the nursery. I've been admiring this tree for years when it was in better health, but it's slowly been declining. I went today and asked about it and was told it has all but died. They were planning on trying to revive it, but I assured them that I would love to give it a try. It was marked at $280, but sold it to me for $50. I figured the pot was at least $25.

My plans for this tree are:

1. It's got mealybugs and ants, so I am going to cut each branch back to the trunk and seal the wounds.
2. Repot the tree and trim the dead roots (the tree was constantly overwatered).
3. Keep the tree humid, warm, and well lit.
4. Stand back, cross fingers, and hope it has a will to live.

Stay tuned.

ericN · Apr 3, 2014

Hi Ryan,

Seems like a good deal......BUT to me, bringing a unhealthy plant w/ possibility of insect infestation to your collection is never a good idea. Most especially for indoor growers.

Hope that helps

Eric

Redwood Ryan · Apr 3, 2014

ericN said:
Hi Ryan,

Seems like a good deal......BUT to me, bringing a unhealthy plant w/ possibility of insect infestation to your collection is never a good idea. Most especially for indoor growers.

Hope that helps

Eric

I totally agree, but this tree won't be near my other trees. It'll be in its own box away from the others.

JudyB · Apr 3, 2014

Good luck with this one Ryan! If anyone knows about a comeback it's you...

Redwood Ryan · Apr 3, 2014

The whole upper portion of this tree is pretty much dead, so I'm going to do an angled chop and restart the top. There is also a hole at the top where the ants keep going into and coming out of, and something makes me suspect that part is rotting. The chop would remove that section, and I could then soak the rootball to get rid of the rest of the ants.

Poink88 · Apr 3, 2014

Challenging trees get me going but know that there is a fine line between challenging and frustrating ones. Just make sure your enthusiasm do not get burned out by getting many frustrating ones.

Good luck!

Cadillactaste · Apr 3, 2014

I really hope it pulls through. What a great steal if it does.

GrimLore · Apr 3, 2014

If you isolate it and do not over work it you will be a happy young man, good deal properly handled

Grimmy

Redwood Ryan · Apr 3, 2014

After the work I just did, I'm not so sure it'll pull through. The nursery it came from continuously overwatered it, as I mentioned every time I visited. Most of the roots were no good and fell right off. I had to cut the trunk down lower than I had originally planned as it was rotted so deep into the wood. I had to cut back until I saw some live wood at least. There are a few branches still alive, so I cut those back to stubs instead of back to the trunk, in the hopes that they sprout back new buds. It's fugly right not, so I'll refrain from pictures until I start to see some sort of good signs...

KennedyMarx · Apr 4, 2014

Did you repot it in 100% pumice? I think I remember you experimenting with that before. I bet it you did it would spring back pretty fast. You know how tough they are and you've got the skills to pull it off, so I'm betting it will survive. Warm temperatures will help regrow the roots and the humidity will help it to survive in the meantime.

Redwood Ryan · Apr 4, 2014

KennedyMarx said:
Did you repot it in 100% pumice? I think I remember you experimenting with that before. I bet it you did it would spring back pretty fast. You know how tough they are and you've got the skills to pull it off, so I'm betting it will survive. Warm temperatures will help regrow the roots and the humidity will help it to survive in the meantime.

I did not. I kinda gave up with the pumice. It helped the roots grow like crazy, but the tree itself grew very little due to the lack of nutrients, even with me fertilizing. For now I've switched back to the Meehan's mix, which is what this tree was in. It'll be able to hold water a little longer, which should hopefully help the recovery. It's sitting in 85% humidity, and I'm assuming it's warm in the setup. That should certainly help. I'm contemplating giving it bottom heat as well, as I've got heat mats sitting around.

KennedyMarx · Apr 4, 2014

Bottom heat would probably help it spring back, I think. It definitely wouldn't hurt.

Redwood Ryan · Apr 4, 2014

KennedyMarx said:
Bottom heat would probably help it spring back, I think. It definitely wouldn't hurt.

Yeah it can only help, so I'll add it. I'd feel more comfortable if this was a Willow Leaf, cause I know they could bounce back from this sort of thing.

Redwood Ryan · Apr 4, 2014

I'm really doubting this tree's chances. I found more rotting sections and had to cut back to live wood and cover with paste.

edprocoat · Apr 4, 2014

Ryan Tigerbark are scrappers. I lost all my tropicals to a freeze a few years back except the TigerBark which died down to about 2 inches losing all but 2 fine roots and this one came back healthy. Its in my thread about fusing branches to make a trunk.

ed

Redwood Ryan · Apr 4, 2014

edprocoat said:
Ryan Tigerbark are scrappers. I lost all my tropicals to a freeze a few years back except the TigerBark which died down to about 2 inches losing all but 2 fine roots and this one came back healthy. Its in my thread about fusing branches to make a trunk.

ed

I too have chopped Tigerbark back to basically nothing and had them sprout back, but I'm just so nervous with this one. It was so neglected at the nursery and had so many rotting sections that I had to cut out and cover up. Time will tell I suppose.

Redwood Ryan · Apr 15, 2014

R.I.P.

It was as I expected. The rot got too far into the tree and there was no saving it. I figured that much when I was chopping it back.

Steve C · Apr 15, 2014

That sucks Ryan, looks like it had a real nice trunk on it as well. That's too bad.

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