Brazilian Raintree Not Budding Out

[roberthu]

I bought a thornless BRT on eBay two weeks ago and the tree arrived showing a lot of stress: 99% of the leaves were dry and fell off in the box. Upon inspection, the root and the soil were all wet. I assumed it was due to excessive heat during shipping (it was over 90F for 4 days). So I put it under a big fig tree where it gets about an hour of sunlight in early morning and remains in shade for the rest of the day. I also mist the tree 3 - 4 times a day and only water once a day or every other day depends on how the soil looks. It came in a bonsai pot with soil mix of mostly lava rock, gravel and pine/fur bark. It stays moist most of the time since there aren't many leaves left on the tree and it's kept in shade most of the time.

Now it has been almost two weeks and I still don't see any sign of budding back and I am getting nervous. I can see some branches showing green buds but it has been like this since day one and there is no sign of the buds swelling. The few leaves that didn't drop during shipping are still opening up in the day and closing up in the night so that's a sign of life. I am just not sure how long it's going to take for the tree to recover, if it does.

Thanks.

 

[roberthu]

Some photos from three days ago.

 

[Carol 83]

I don't think you have anything to worry about. I have one that due to my own negligence this winter, lost all of it's leaves. It sat leafless for months, literally. I could see it was still green, but no other signs of life. Then, it just decided to start growing and even bloomed a few weeks ago. I would get yours out of the shade and don't keep the soil sopping wet, with so few leaves. Just my $.02.

 

[roberthu]

I don't think you have anything to worry about. I have one that due to my own negligence this winter, lost all of it's leaves. It sat leafless for months, literally. I could see it was still green, but no other signs of life. Then, it just decided to start growing and even bloomed a few weeks ago. I would get yours out of the shade and don't keep the soil sopping wet, with so few leaves. Just my $.02.

Great to hear yours bounced back! Thank you for sharing your experience. I will move it out of the shade a bit then. I was think being a tropical sitting in shade most of the day can't be that good for it. I did a repotting on a smaller BRT just a week ago. Cut 60% of the roots to fit it into a bonsai pot and didn't really defoliate or prune. The tree didn't skip a beat. So I feel BRT is a relatively robust tree to take care of.

 

[Clicio]

It looks fine to me.
Let it rest, in the open shade.

 

[leatherback]

Mine has also sulked for months on end, to then just burst to life. Guess they look for seasonal triggers somewhere.

 

[Paradox]

looks like some little buds are there to me.
Give it another week. Ive had then defoliate in the winter and it takes at least 3 weeks to start to get going again.
Leave it in the shade and make sure it has enough but not too much water

 

[roberthu]

Leaves are finally opening up slowly!

 

[Clicio]

Leaves are finally opening up slowly!

You see? Lots of them!
Congrats for your patience!

 

[roberthu]

You see? Lots of them!
Congrats for your patience!

Yeah thank you! Some are already showing leaves while others are still trying. But it is improving for sure.