When to concede defeat?

[MGTT]

A belated Thank You to Jelle/@leatherback for his great advice. Sometimes you need someone on ‘the outside’ to give input - which is the main intent of this site!- and I certainly appreciate the feedback.

While I am watching the soil moisture level, I’m letting it go dryer than previously.

And, the last couple of days, I’ve seen a noticeable difference in the bark between the lower ‘live’ portion and upper ‘dead’.

I’ll let it go into next year, but, fingers crossed, it looks like I’ll have a live tree, and the opportunity to do some deadwood work ( thx @Tieball).

 

[leatherback]

No more work on this plant untill a new flush of growth has matured.

 

[R0b]

First piece of work on this tree would be a repot to bring the potential root volume in line with the actual size of the tree. As Leatherback says the earliest opportunity for that is after healthy growth matures probably winter 2025. Until then keep managing the water / oxygen balance in the soil.

You can’t do any deadwood work on a tree with a weak root system as you would sure damage it.