Droopy leaves- the case of digitata
-contributed by Juan Tenoro, Laredo TX-[zone 9]
Droopy leaves (Fig. 1) is a symptom of transplant stress.
I've seen this phenomenon only with Adansonia digitata.
Before transplanting or shipping, digitata leaves look very shinny and healthy (Fig. 2).
After repotting or shipping, in most cases, the leaves will willt. This temporary situation may last up to two weeks, depending on the strength of the seedling.
Digitata seedlings will not die from this insult, unless one will overwater the seedling.
The temporary shock is due to the fact that the root system is quite small
and unable to cope with the photosyntetic needs of a large number of leaves. As far as I know, the Adansonia digitata
is the only baobab species having 2 types of leaves :
Early Leaves (Fig.2, 3 and 5), simple leaf, as long as 15 cm.
The early simple leaves are abundant on 1-2 years old seedlings. Those non palmate leaves are the most prone to wilt during transplant shock.
Definitive Leaves (Fig. 3, 4 and 5) that are palmate (compounded) leaves.
There are several ways to minimize the transplantation stress:
Remove all leaves (my preferred approach). Keep defoliated seedling outside in the sun and water once every second day. Do not soak; use a very well drained soil. Very soon, new buds will emerge.
Remove all the leaves from the lower half of the trunk and any large droopy leaves. (Fig. 6)
Don't do anything... just keep seedling in the sun and water every second day. The tree will recover in approx 2 weeks.
Fig.1
Fig.2
Fig.3
Fig.4
Fig.5
Fig.6
Additional info on transplant shock (10-23-02)
On the left picture there is a digitata pulled from the ground and ready to be transplanted in a pot. This is the same plant as the one from Figs. 3 and 4. As one can see there are plenty of simple and palmate leaves. The seedling is very healthy.
One week later the seedling lost ALL simple leaves (1) but kept ALL palmate leaves (2). However the seedling will not die. I have seen this transplant shock only with Adansonia digitata.
The picture on the right shows some other transplanted Adansonia species(3), which never lost any single leaf.
