Very sad looking Angophora Costata

[quodlibet_ens]

I bought this Angophora a few weeks back and last week I had noticed that all the colour had gone out of the leaves and looked to be drying out. I had kept up with the normal watering, etc, but have now put it in a bucket of seasol solution. It's been in there a few days, but would anyone be able to hazard a guess as to whether it will come back or not and how long I should leave it in the seasol.

Thanks in advance.
Nathan.

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[kcpoole]

take it out now
soak for a few hours at a time and let th e roots dry out to get air in them.
the only reason i would leave in more than that is to allow time to pot up, and then replace ever few days with dry times between.
the Azaleas i did a few weeks ago soaked for 3 days until I could get them all potted up

Ken

[shibui]

My guess would be that it dried out at some stage.
It is often a week or so ago. By the time you see the results you've usually forgotten that you missed watering it that day
The other possibility is that your regular watering is not effective. I have seen this before. If the water does not penetrate right to the middle of the root ball each time you water the pot gradually gets more and more dry. Dry mix repels water so the problem gets worse each day until the tree finally gives up. Effective watering means making sure that the pot gets properly wet right to the centre each time you water the trees.

[quodlibet_ens]

take it out now
soak for a few hours at a time and let the roots dry out to get air in them.

Thanks for your advice, Ken. I took the plant out of the seasol solution yesterday and now I'll leave it for a few days to dry out before repeating.

I'll take another photo of the plant this afternoon when I get home from work, but do either you or shibui think it will come back from this? Is an Angophora likely to bud again from what looks like bring dried out?

Cheers,
Nathan



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[kcpoole]

I'll leave it for a few days to dry out before repeating.

??You should be watering every day in sufficient amount to wet the root ball thruought.

if you want to soak in seasol to help recovery then dunk for 1/2 and hour each day till you see new shoot.

if it has not dried too much then yep it shodu shoot back OK.
scratch the bark to see if green, if so then you are oK

Ken

[quodlibet_ens]

I'll leave it for a few days to dry out before repeating.

if it has not dried too much then yep it shodu shoot back OK.
scratch the bark to see if green, if so then you are oK

Here's a photo of the bark right after scratching it back. There is a slight green tinge to it around the outer area of where I've scratched, but other than that it's a light straw brown colour...



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[kcpoole]

probably be ok I think

ken

[dansai]

When you scratch the bark to check for green, to see if your tree is still alive, you are looking for a live cambium layer. This is a very thin layer of cells that produce the new wood on the inside, with vessels to carry the water and nutrients up to all parts of the tree, and the bark on the outside, with vessels to take the food (sugars from photosynthesis) down through the tree and to the roots. It also protects the cambium and live, or sap, wood.

The cambium is green, and so when you scratch the bark on thin barked, or young trees, with just your fingernail, you will reveal the cambium layer and if your tree is still alive you will see green. Thicker bark trees you may need a bit more strength or a small knife. It looks like you have scratched back not only the bark, but the cambium as well and so you see the new wood which is pale coloured. The green bits are the cambium, and if the colours in the photo are true, it is green, but not as bright as it could be. Although some trees naturally have cambiums that aren't as bright.

It would appear your tree is still alive, and as has been said, may have dried out a bit to cause the leaves to die off. It should shoot again. Your watering would be different from the nursery/place where it came from, and it could also be root bound, which will make it harder to water properly. The advice of soaking it, then letting it dry out before soaking again is good. Once the weather warms up it would be worth repotting and root running.

Good luck with it, and let us know how you go.

Dan

[shibui]

That area you have scratched does not look viable to me but many Australian plants are able to shoot from the base after severe trauma like this. I'd keep watering this one for at least 6 months with

[quodlibet_ens]

Thanks Dan for that detailed response, and to Shibui as well. I have another plant on order to replace this one but I will continue to water and keep an eye on this one to see how it goes. Best case scenario is I end up with 2...

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[Pup]

Try the blow torch, it has worked for me in the past. At the moment I am waiting on a Banksia,after two months nothing.
It is a native I have in the past had them burst back after two years.

Cheers Pup

[dennismc]

This tree has certainly dried out. With sufficient watering it may come back.

Contrary to what seems appropriate, Gum trees of all genera require very regular watering but not to stand in water. Ironically when they are re-potted it is necessary to ensure that they NEVER dry out in the three weeks after re-potting then back to very regular watering.

Dennismc

[quodlibet_ens]

Try the blow torch

I've considered the blow torch, Pup! I'll keep up with the watering for now.



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