AusBonsai

I have been reading the forum on how to revitalize a plant suffering from transplant shock. Consensus seems to be that a plant takes a while to recover from shock and starts to recover in order to draw water and to grow new feeder roots, so it should be given time. No pruning work should be done during this time.

While I understand the concept, what happens in the case where the plant seems not to respond/recuperate but appears to be dying a little more each day? What if the new root structure can no longer support the existing foliage? Can the plant be treated instead as a yamadori, thereby, reducing the foliage to match the root base? Some yamadori are just stumps with no roots or leaves, yet they survive.

Can a change of action be taken, and if so, how long should one wait?

I am also concerned about the amount of sun the plant should receive at this stage. Some say, put it back into full sun, others say part-sun until it recuperate. It was not doing well in full sun and now it is in the shade, but no noticeable improvement seen.

Hey Bz, I can’t answer (I’m not horticulturalist) but in preparation for others waking up this cool morning - I reckon they may need more info. Do you have a specific tree or species in mind? Age/size of the tree? Any photos or other information that may help them provide advise specific to your situation? No drama if not - I just reckon the more info you can provide the more likely someone will be able to assist you as there may be different advice to match the tree/situation. Cheers, Mark


Bonsai teaches me patience.
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I agree with mjl

It’s a broad statement that the general rule is to not cut foliage. In fact in many cases it’s possibly the opposite.

Some more info would help.
What is the tree?
Have you dug it from the ground or is it in a pot?
Has it been cut back recently?
Is it healthy?

That is a start.

Squizzy

A lot depends on species. Some may do better with a lot of foliage to help new roots grow and will usually die if most foliage is removed. Other species are happy to have the trunk cut back to bare wood and will grow new roots and new shoots from resources stored in the trunk.
I have had plenty of examples of transplanted trees dropping excess leaves soon after collection then bouncing back with new shoots when it was ready. They are capable of self regulation so your tree may just be making the necessary adjustments to survive.
'Full sun' is also a variable factor. Full sun in mid summer in central Africa is entirely different to full sun at the same time in central England. Full sun in winter is quite a different thing to full sun in mid summer. Everyone needs to take advice from around the world and make some allowances for differing conditions where they live.
Survival will also depend on how much root has been reduced.
Sometimes a tree will just not survive despite all the best technique. Even experienced collectors have failures.
One should also not draw generalisations from a single example. What you did may work in the majority of cases even though this particular tree doesn't survive.
I have seen recent advice that collectors in England have been getting good results by 'sweating' newly collected trees. New trees are potted up and the entire pot and tree is enclosed in a black garbage plastic bag and placed in the sun until new shoots appear. They claim much improved survival for hawthorn, in particular, with this method. I currently use black plastic bags in the sun to sterilise plant material and to kill pests. It is likely that in my conditions such treatment would quickly cook any tree so I'm reluctant to try this here but will probably trial a couple of (not just one) expendable examples to confirm either way.
During a discussion with a visiting German bonsai instructor yesterday she mentioned that she will not collect wild grown trees because survival rates for new collectors are so poor. She prefers to leave collecting to those with plenty of experience who can give the trees the best possible chances and pay them for their skills and experience. New collectors are bound to have low survival rates, even with the best advice.

I hope the current state of your trees is just temporary and it will recover and survive.

Thanks for your responses.

It is a 2-year-old lime tree that was uprooted from my garden and potted a month ago. It was originally in a "grow bag" which was left alone after it penetrated the ground. I cannot say how much root base it has lost but I had to use a lopper.

Now it has been losing its leaves and I fear it is on a downward spiral.

Now I can connect the 2 threads to get a better picture of this case.
If the tree was in a grow bag I suspect you have removed very few of the roots that were in the bag so it should have plenty of roots to survive. I would concentrate on keeping the root zone well watered. The potting mix looks well drained so you should be able to water often without fear of roots getting waterlogged.

I found it better to grow in a colander and then transfer colander to my version of the ground.
When I dig back up, the colander allows the tree to recover the fine feeder roots.

Then about 3 months or so later. I can do safe surgery on the tree.
Removing large roots.

I work mostly with seeds / seedlings / cuttings, and most of the trees here are transplants
from South and Central America [ birds and poop ] .
Sub-Tropicals.
Still looking for a Tropical tree.

If I am growing for trunk diameter. I can get 8 cm in 6 months to year, even with the 3
month "winter" rest, that occurs for us.
Laters.
Tambrand