My cool new tree is dying! We recently had a huge amount of rain and I failed to notice that my new tree was standing in a pool of water that was an inch up the tree's trunk. It had been like that for 2 days. The tree looks awful now, it's leaves hanging and hardened. About the tree - Unfortunately, I don't remember what I did with the tag for the tree. It is from Chile sold by Monrovia, and slightly related to a Magnolia tree. It has large, evergreen, waxy, teardrop-shaped leaves. The leaves are significantly larger than any magnolia tree I have seen. Anyway, nowing that the tree was newish, I figured it didn't have too many good roots going so I pulled it out to try to save it. The root ball was basically mud, the exposed roots were gray and slimy and the aroma was of anaerobic death - you know that smell right? Sewage is the closest thing I can think of. I cut away all the foul roots and used a small stick to remove as much of the stinky mud as I could. That took a while and the the root ball seemed to have dried a little. I replanted the tree into nice soil that was good, but with a bit more sand in it than usual, hoping it would draw out some of that water. I don't know if that was a good idea or not. The next day it was going to frost and after much fretting I decided to bring it inside. It has been a couple days now and I don't see any evidence of improvement. I don't know what to do. Should I just leave it alone and give it time? Should I fertilize it? Maybe give it rooting hormone? Give it an oxygen mask? I don't want it to die, it is kind of a specimen. k
I am no tree expert but it takes more than a couple of days to see if the tree will improve. I would leave it alone for now. It may take as long as a month to see any difference. Don`t be surprised if the leaves on it now die off. That may be a good sign then watch for it to generate new leaf buds. Remove the dead leaves as necessary. I would not fertilize till I saw new growth. Right now its trying to repair the drowned roots and replace those lost.
I agree with Mart. The tree is under great stress now and the only way it can handle that is to drop leaves so it's energy can be spent on the roots. Don't give it fertilizer or hormone, too much of a normally good thing will only add to the stress it's feeling now. Keep it warm and out of drafts and give it time to recover.
Poor tree. It's been through a lot. First the flood, then root pruning followed by replanting. You probably did the right thing, it's just all a shock for the tree. I agree with the above posters that the tree needs time. I don't know if it will survive, but it may well. I'd be considering very light fertilizing in a couple of weeks, personally, and normal watering for that tree, whatever it is. If it's related to Magnolia, it's not from Chile and if it's from Chile it's not related to Magnolia; at least not from Family level down.
Thank you for the replies. I am taking all of the advice And leaving it alone to recuperate. It may be showing signs of life- it is in front of my patio doors so gets sunlight on one side; there are tiny leaves that look more healthy than the large ones and they have angled towards the sun. Am crossing my fingers.
