Leaves dying on apricots! Help!

[Japh]

Recently you may have seen my post on a Penjing I put together with my wife. It consists of 3 small apricot plants.

We did it approximately 1 week ago, and I've noticed the leaves appear to be dying! Now, I did do a fair bit of root pruning on these when we moved them into the Penjing, but I didn't do very much defoliating... is this the problem? Should I have taken most (or ALL??) or the leaves off at the same time?

Is it too late to save them? If not, what should I do? I'm worried I may even have left it too long to ask, so maybe they can't be saved... which isn't the end of the world, but I'd like to know where I went wrong for next time.

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[Watto]

Apricots are sensitive little critters and should really be root trimmed in late August while they are still dorment. That said, they should be OK with a bit of TLC. Keep in the shade for a few weeks, not too much water, and they will bounce back. Even if they loose their leaves, they should send out a new set after a while because they are young plants.

[Japh]

Thanks, Watto! So should I just leave them and look after them and hope for the best, or should I defoliate to help speed along the recovery?

[Watto]

If it were mine, I would leave them and see what eventuates. Misting the leaves might also help. Goodluck!

[Jonden]

Hi Japh,
Deciduous trees should be root pruned and potted just before they come onto leaf. Apricots are touchy but they have a good chance of coming back if you put them in a a position where the pot is warm to promote root growth, but protected from wind, a hothouse would be ideal.
If you havn't already done so, dunk them in Seasol for ten minutes also. Good luck
Cheers, Jonden

[Japh]

Thanks again. I guess I did them out of season then, is the main issue?

Misting the leaves doesn't seem to have helped at all either