We had new windows installed. When the work was done, I thought my house plants were dead! My Sheffrela concerns me because I have had this plant for 38 years, I thought, when I first saw it that it was wilted, so I watered it. Since then, I haven't done anything. Here is a picture. Can it be saved?
If there is going to be any recovery it will happen deep in, on the most protected part of the trunk, probably near the soil.
Don't over water it, the plant is using practically no water right now.
You could trim whatever parts are really dead, especially if they are turning mushy, but do not cut too deep into anything solid.
Thank you for your reply, Diana. The trunk and branches are all solid. The leave are mostly all wilted. Should I remove the leaves?
Thank you!
There is some advantage in leaving viable leaves on a struggling plant while the plant salvages nutrients and other biocompounds from the still living leaves, but since the leaves aren't viable, there is no harm in snipping them off by cutting through the petiole (leaf stem) between the (compound) leaf proper and it's attachment point. The small stub will soon fall off. Don't pull the leaves off - you'll damage latent buds in leaf axils.
Good advice above - not to over-water. DAMP, not wet, is the order of the day - until the plant starts growing in earnest. No fertilizer until it's pushing new growth, either.
.... hoping you'll be able to name it your resurrection plant!
Al
