Rescue mission; possible fatality

[Cattwooduk]

So some of the remaining leaves are looking alright and some looking a little 'thin' and stressed, one or two curling a little. Wondering if a humidity tent would be helped after all or if this is something else? Over watering?
Seems to be a decent amount of buds pushing at all the nodes on both trunks though which is promising!

 

[Cattwooduk]

Any ideas for this? Hoping the leaves that are still looking good will last long enough for the new buds to keep pushing out and get working but some of them don't look too happy.

 

[cbroad]

I would keep doing whatever you're doing, since those leaves are still alive, you might be good. I guess a tent still wouldn't hurt.

 

[drew33998]

I think it should make it.

 

[leatherback]

This makes it for sure, assuming you protect it from harsh weather. But the way you lifted it, it has a lot of small feeder roots on the first pictures. Those were kicked into growing when you potted it up. I would not be surprised if you still get a foot of growth this year.

The buds you just showed are a good sign typically indicating that the plant feels there is enough roots & energy to start pushing new growth. Once that new growth has pushed and starts to harden off, you are home free.

 

[Cattwooduk]

Sweet that's reassuring thanks guys!

It's on the bottom shelf of a bench I knocked up last year so it's sheltered from any wind, gets maybe a couple of hours of dappled sunlight late morning and then pretty well shaded but not dark for the rest of the day.

 

[rockm]

Any ideas for this? Hoping the leaves that are still looking good will last long enough for the new buds to keep pushing out and get working but some of them don't look too happy.

LET IT ALONE. Stop trying to "do something" for the sake of doing something. it does NOT need a tent which will complicate new growth with an overly humid atmosphere and promote fungal conditions.

Constantly thinking SOMETHING needs to be done to help a recovering tree is a huge mistake by beginners. You have backbudding -- that is what you want. Top growth typically means the root are rebuilding themselves...The existing leaves will probably die and drop off in favor of new growth. Not a problem...

don't mess with the tree any more this year AND next and ideally the next. Let it alone to grow and strengthen and build root mass.

 

[Cattwooduk]

I wasn't trying to do anything, I'd rather just leave it be so I was merely asking what the cause of the symptoms would like be. I haven't collected one in these circumstances before so haven't experienced leaves showing this stress after collection before. I didn't know if perhaps I was over watering or maybe keeping it too shaded or something, I figured it's at least worth asking.

 

[rockm]

I wasn't trying to do anything, I'd rather just leave it be so I was merely asking what the cause of the symptoms would like be. I haven't collected one in these circumstances before so haven't experienced leaves showing this stress after collection before. I didn't know if perhaps I was over watering or maybe keeping it too shaded or something, I figured it's at least worth asking.

Wasn't trying to be a nag. Asking about a humidity tent suggests you've got the itch to "help" it along.

You lifted the tree in leaf and removed most of its roots. That means existing leaves that depended on those roots are probably going to be replaced wholesale as the tree develops a new set of roots. The inadvertent defoliation and root reduction means the tree will be working twice as hard to produce new growth. A long season of uninterrupted growth and another next year will allow the tree to recover.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Are those spider mites on there? I see some webbing and could account for weak foliage.

 

[Cattwooduk]

Hmm, I hadn't noticed when I was looking the other day so I'll double check.
Would it be ok to just give it a spray with the general bug spray to clear them out or should I use something else?

 

[Solaris]

Hmm, I hadn't noticed when I was looking the other day so I'll double check.
Would it be ok to just give it a spray with the general bug spray to clear them out or should I use something else?

I do it manually with weak plants.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Some insecticides don't do a thing for arachnids. There are a lot of options out there; Neem oil soap and water is a common one. I've been using Bayer 3 in 1 (w miteacide) with good results.

 

[Cattwooduk]

Looks like it will pull through unless something catastrophic happens to it! Would it be worth giving it a weak dose of fert now that it's pushing some fresh growth?

 

[Cattwooduk]

Now I know this isn't something to worry about for some time, but for my own future planning I have a question.
Where I have new shoots coming out from two sides of the same node on the trunk, at what point shout I be looking to rectify this? I guess there's the option of wiring them into different levels/positions but I'm aware of the need to avoid developing a big bulge on the trunk from having branches growing opposite each other.

For now while it's recovering I'll obviously leave it be, it's looking like I should have some really nice growth this year.
I've just been looking at it for a while the last few evenings and started coming up with some questions I want to sort out in advance. This is probably one of my best pieces of starting material so I want to make something great out of it.

 

[leatherback]

At this stage, yeah I woud start fertilizing. It is growing roots for sure.

As for the shoots.. I thin this growth back to one sprout per 'node', by cutting away all the doubles. You can probably get away with leaving one branch at each position on the trunk, and remove the bar branches next year.

 

[Cattwooduk]

At this stage, yeah I woud start fertilizing. It is growing roots for sure.

As for the shoots.. I thin this growth back to one sprout per 'node', by cutting away all the doubles. You can probably get away with leaving one branch at each position on the trunk, and remove the bar branches next year.

Thanks! Some of the nodes have more than 2 new shoots so I'll just take them all back to one.

I'm still thinking the height is too tall on the main trunk and it's too straight! I won't be doing any reduction any time soon though, I'm enjoying just watching it spring back into life.

 

[ConorDash]

What’s to realistically gain by fertilising now?

 

[Cattwooduk]

More growth and in turn more strength/faster recovery!

 

[ConorDash]

More growth and in turn more strength/faster recovery!

Perhaps I’ll be disagreed with but something I learnt on this forum and from mirai, don’t fertilise weak trees.

Fertiliser requires the tree to work harder, drawing on more water and pushing growth. As far as I know, you shouldn’t do this to a weak tree. You do this to a strong tree, to push it further.
At the same time, it is good to provide those extra nutrients, nitrogen for root growth, for example.
So perhaps someone else can weigh in..

If I find the advice online, where I saw it, I’ll post it. I think it may have been mirai spring video, 2 hour one.