How did this tree do this year?
It's been dead for over a year now. For one, I was messing with it too much. A year after collection, I moved it into a grow bag, thinking that would help it develop faster, but I should have left it in the mica pot I originally placed it in. I also pruned off a major branch I didn't like, and that couldn't have helped an already weak tree.
On top of that, I moved to Wilmington at the end of 2021, and I didn't realize just how bad the municipal water is. It comes from the Brandywine River, which is extremely polluted by Pennsylvania agricultural runoff. It's a Simpson's Movie situation, with fish that are unsafe to eat, etc. That means they have to treat it with lots of chemicals and filtration to make it safe to drink. On top of that, they boost the pH to an absurd degree to protect against lead poisoning from old lead pipes that are still part of the water grid. That's good for the residents because it'll prevent a Flint, Michigan, situation, but it's bad for ericaceous plants.