Don't Stop Believin'

Carol 83

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Mid-October I brought a happy, shaggy willow leaf ficus in, with the rest of the trops. Even with a southern exposure and grow lights, if threw down all of it's leaves in disgust, shortly after coming inside. It sat like a dead stick all winter and early spring. I put it outside with everything else a few weeks ago, with no expectations whatsoever. I was just about to liberate the pot, when lo and behold it had started pushing some leaves. So, just saying, don't give up too fast, there may still be a chance. Please feel free to share your tree near death, back to life experiences here.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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My willow leaf ficus got left on the attic stairs one year. It went from late October until late May without any water at all. I set it back outside and shortly after a rain, it came back to life. Only lost a few small branches, no big ones. This was a few years back.

I believe willow leaf ficus come from wet-dry tropics, where a several month long drought is not unusual.
 

Mellow Mullet

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They are really tough trees, here is a thread on one that got left out in freezing weather : https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/woe-is-me-old-man-winter-1-john-zero.17699/ , I hope to post an update this week. I also have a huge chunk of root that I cut off of another that I put in a pot two years ago, it never sprouted or did anything, I even quit watering it last year. I was cleaning up under the benches and was about to throw it out when I noticed that it has finally sprouted, two years later.
 

Carol 83

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They are really tough trees, here is a thread on one that got left out in freezing weather : https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/woe-is-me-old-man-winter-1-john-zero.17699/ , I hope to post an update this week. I also have a huge chunk of root that I cut off of another that I put in a pot two years ago, it never sprouted or did anything, I even quit watering it last year. I was cleaning up under the benches and was about to throw it out when I noticed that it has finally sprouted, two years later.
Great thread, glad it made it for you! Thanks for sharing their resilience.
 

Nanuk

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Glad to hear that it pulled through Carol. Ive been thinking about getting one.
Good to know that they are tough. It will need to be to live under my care.
I have this uncanny ability to kill plants.
 

cbroad

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Small benjamina left on a window sill all winter, I probably only watered once or twice... Thought it was completely dead. Moved it outside only to get it closer to the debris pile in the woods. I was going to toss it a week later and noticed it started leafing out!
1560291322026-2002726007.jpg
 

cbroad

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Also had the surprise of a field maple air layer come to life this spring. Did the operation last summer and all the leaves turned brown within a few days, the dead leaves stayed attached too (not a good sign).

I mulched it in anyways with the rest of the plants in the winter. Moved everything out in the spring and noticed a few small branches had leafed out! The interesting parts are dead but I'm surprised anything made it!

Started a thread about it in my excitement: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/surprised.38221/

IMG_20190425_191738454.jpg
 

Carol 83

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It's been a particularly hard winter for the trops here. It got cold early and stayed cold late, so they stayed inside too long. I had some rather depressing losses. However, one particular bougie that is dear to me and which I was sure was dead, scratched green far down on the trunk tonight. I was grilling burgers on the patio and decided to make sure it was dead before delegating it to the burn pile. That little patch of green absolutely made my day. I am beginning to learn patience. 😉
 

wireme

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Here’s my little survivor. An apple that my mom started from seed in 1990. It grew then got moused to the ground one winter. It grew again and then got elked to the ground one summer. Then the garden patch was abandoned and it spent 5 or more years hidden in the grass in a very dry unirrigated location. I brought it home and after a couple years it got some kind of infection that was killing off the trunks. I set it aside to quarantine or maybe dispose of in the spring but it fell off the bench and was forgotten. Found it again back there on the ground midsummer with green leaves. How that could possibly be possible I have no idea, should have been cracker dry dead a long time before that. But it’s still going and although there is no way to tell from the pic it’s actually a pretty cool little thing now, mostly deadwood, nice base to expose, maybe by next year. 213CB251-0EF8-4030-8222-5266E9F793D8.jpeg
 

Carol 83

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So, one of my dwarf Barbados Cherry's decided sometime in March, it didn't want leaves anymore. I don't know if it was a case of overwatering, or if it was just as sick of winter as I was. I figured once it was outside, it would come back. I was wrong. About a week ago my husband spied the pitiful pot of sticks, and declared "that thing is dead." I was inclined to agree, but I wasn't going to admit it, so of course I countered with "no, it's not." Well, by some miracle, I was right. Not sure what took it so long, but dbcherry.jpgdbcherry2.jpgit's showing distinct signs of life. :) I showed it to my husband and he declared it "a replacement tree", lol. He swears I just bought a look-alike to fool him!
 

Carol 83

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The first week of Oct we had a sudden cold spell, and early frost. I had to rush everything in post haste, no time to try to acclimate them to a lower light situation. Nobody liked that. All the bougies, with the exception of the one I had recently purchased from Zach Smith, quickly dropped their leaves. I've become accustomed to it, happens every year. Normally, after a bit of sulking they start to leaf out again, which they all did except one little peach colored one. After months of looking depressing and dead, it looks like it's going to make it. ☺ 2020-01-31 13.07.40 boug.jpg
 

Carol 83

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This Dwarf Barbados Cherry had exactly 1 leaf Monday when we left for vacation. I was going to liberate the pot Sunday, but I didn't have time. Came back today and it looked like this, and has flower buds. dbc save.jpg
 

Lorax7

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InkedIMG_1131 -_LI.jpg
This little Albizia saman was viciously attacked by a squirrel (I think) in the location circled in red. It's hard to tell from this angle, but the squirrel bite went more than halfway through the trunk. It struggled all winter and dropped all of it's leaves. I figured the tree was a goner but put it up on the bench with the rest of the trees in the spring, mainly because it had a nice patch of moss growing and I figured I'd transplant the moss onto something else at some point. The tree did nothing all spring. No leaves. Then, much to my surprise, once we started to get into the full swing of summer weather it finally started pushing some new green growth.
 

Mike Corazzi

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I guess this isn't a Walter Pall progression thread.
👿
 

sorce

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This Dwarf Barbados Cherry had exactly 1 leaf Monday when we left for vacation. I was going to liberate the pot Sunday, but I didn't have time. Came back today and it looked like this, and has flower buds. View attachment 385681

Who or what was watering?

Lol...what is it telling you!?

Perhaps....Stop believing!

Sorce
 
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