One of the cupped Qalaat al Madiq was not doing well.  The leaves were a bit limp a few days ago so I figured it needed a bit of water.  I gave it about an ounce or so (by eye) and let it be for a couple of days.  Last night I looked at it again and it was in the same condition!!  I looked at the cup and noticed the roots did not look good at all!!!!!!! 

YIKES!!!!  

I thought the best thing to do was to take it out and check it out!  So I did.  The roots were in poor shape - rotted on the sides of the cup and just not looking good.  I slid the little cutting out and removed it from the potting mix - not a pretty sight :(  I cut the bad one and kept the good ones - the root mass is a bit smaller but a least it is healthy.  I made up some fresh soil and cupped it again - sigh......  

It looks OK, not great, I am thinking of cutting the leaves in half to help with the loss of moisture through transpiration - I'll see how it looks in the morning.

Good luck, let us know the outcome

joann,

if the cutting itself is not rotted, it might have a chance. usually when i dump a cutting it's when the cutting itself is rotten and can not be saved. maybe your cutting will come back :)

Do you think a more humid environment would assist in recovery?  Hope it springs back for you.

Are you sure you don't have fungus gnats?  They can do serious damage to roots.  I hope your baby tree recovers!

Suzi

Yes, let us know how it goes.  Personally, in the past my experience has been that once things start to go bad, they do not recover.  So if you are able to intervene and save this cutting, I'd be curious to hear how you did it. 

Good luck,
Rob

Keep us updated on your patients' condition !!

Make sure your soil drains well.  Add more perlite  Cutting the leaves is ok, so is keeping the leaves covered in plastic.  You might also want to put a wick in a few of the drainage holes to keep the soil aerated.  Let the leaves come out a few times per day.

It was left over water settled at the bottom of your cup, Joanne. Cut the leaves so the roots could get all the energy it needs to be salvaged. Take a pair of scissors and make your drain holes bigger or like rcantor said "more perlite".

It will be fine.

Jennifer

Well hopefully it works out for the best in your surgery procedure.
ole Dr.Moe , Dr. Larry or Dr. Curly long past would have been able to do the procedure !
 

All in Fun.

LOL Martin -- I can take a joke!

Pete - The cutting itself is fine - it was the roots that were further away from the cutting.

Frank - with the leaves cut off I don't see a need for higher humidity.  I really don't have the time to shuffle the covers lol -

Suzi - I have not seen one gnat anywhere!!  I think it was just a drainage issue and the holes not being big enough.

I made the holes a bit bigger, along with a bit more perlite and I did cut off a couple of leaves.

The soil was still a bit moist - mostly because I watered the darn thing thinking it was dry and wilting!!LOL  There wasn't an obvious difference between the soil in the bottom of the cup compared to the soil more in the middle.  The roots on this cutting were not to the bottom of the cup yet anyway, they were still in the middle and growing around and up of all ways!

I think it will be OK.  When I grew bonsai trees years ago, I was amazed at how much of the roots were hacked off in the process!  Besides, it was the only way to try and save it other then rip off the roots and the leaves and put it back in the sp moss.  I thought that would be more risky since the cutting does have a limited amount of energy  -  I think  using the roots that are there and viable would be the best way to serve the cutting.

Sorry I don't have photos of this - I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible to avoid further stress - on me LOL