I am experimenting with growing apricot trees in a Scotland. I have grown one from stone and survived for two years in my house garden. I have now transplanted a second apricot tree grown from stone in a pot to soil in the garden 6 days ago. The tree is about 10” tall and grew up since last spring and survived well two transplants in pots.
Now being in the soil it started getting its leaves curled up for the past 3 days. They are green however and are not droopy as you can see in the picture. Can someone advice if curling of leaves is due to the soggy ground because of monsoon like rains we had lately in Scotland. Or is it down to transplant shock? Thx in advance for any advice.
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I would say more transplant shock. Peaches and apricots do that when they are stressed. The tree still looks OK overall so probably no reason to worry much at this point.
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I agree with Scott’s assessment, but stone fruit don’t like to have wet feet. You might want to consider planting those trees on mounds.
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Does your house garden have artificial or natural light? Moving a plant outdoors from artificial lights will often yellow or even kill the leaves of a plant. I am not sure if moving it from window light will do the same.
This tree (Apry2) has grown outdoors from a nursery. I planted the hatched stone in a pot placed next to the nursery in early spring this year. It was therefore always exposed to outdoor conditions including natural light at a south westerly exposure in my open garden.
It gave a considerable spurt in two months and I transplanted it in a bigger pot sitting in the same place in the garden. It took it well except for some initial leaf curling to the top leaves. It recovered fully in 2 weeks.
Then I was running late in season so I decided to transplant it in soil in the garden by the 16th Aug. It was ok for 3-4 days and then the leaves curled up from top to bottom. Yesterday the leaves went droopy also. I think it may be dying.
As a last resort I moved it again to a large pot with fresh dry soil and compost. As we were moving it my son remarked that it’s roots have gone like noodles!
I will keep it there to the next spring and see what happens. My other tree went completely to a stick on its first transplant in the summer last year and bloomed almost like a miracle in early spring!!!
Plants are not dead I gathered until their trunk is bone dry.
In my opinion with “Apry 2” three things went wrong:
Heavy monsoon like rain in the first few days after soil transplant.
The ground went really soggy!!!
The weather turned really hot after that with temperatures Central Belt,Scotland up to 30C yesterday (humidity 90%)i
I don’t think being wet for a few days would matter. My guess is the sun/heat are the primary factors. I killed a couple plants trying to transplant potted plants in the heat and now I only do that in spring and fall.
Thx to all for your kind and prompt advice.
I had to return “Apry2” back into a pot because it’s leaves went all droopy. She has now almost fully recovered and looks a lot happier.
So I will keep her in the pot until she drops it’s leaves. I protect the trunk as it is in the pot in the Scottish wither by covering it with nylon.
And plan to transplant it next spring.
Does it sound like a plan?
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