Someone dropped off two young trees to me today to try and save. They look to be about 2 years old and about 3 foot tall. They were roughly dug up while cleaning out an overgrown area. One has part of its main roots about 1 foot long and very little other small roots. The other one has some dirt, its main roots about a foot long and a small ball of small roots. The leaves are all droop and wilted. I put them immediately into a bucket of water with a little of  MG soluble until I can get home this evening. My thought are to remove all leaves and pot them up in damp soil and place them in a cool completed shaded place under the mulberry tree. Is that all I can do and what should I expect from them.
Thanks, "gene"

Gene,

That sounds like a good plan.  The humidity level should be sufficient to avoid tenting the container.  I soak my trees in a SuperThrive solution between repots.  It seems like it helps alleviate some of the transplant shock.  I do not soak in a solution with fertilizer in it for fear of burning the roots.

*EDIT: you could let the leaves remain then remove the ones that don't bounce back after transplant, but removing them should not be detrimental.

~james

I have rescued many trees in this state. You can put them in well draining potting soil, and a plastic bag on top to help the top stay alive. Then put it in the shade for a bout 3-6 weeks.

My suckers do this all the time when I dont dig well enough and barely get enough root when yanking it out. When you start to see new leaf growth wean the cover of the top.

No big deal! Let me know if I can help.

Well draining soil, high humidity and shade are the major factors. I would have been in favor of letting the trees figure out how many leaves to shed. Hope it all works out.

I forgot to mention shade, luckily John reminded me!

To put it another way, if you look at the principles, requirements and objectives, you need to balance loss of moisture and intake of moisture. There can be several ways of accomplishing these, much like the process of rooting, where there are many solutions which address the requirements for success.

You have already decreased intake by damaging or decreasing root mass. To keep a balance, you need to decrease moisture loss.

Moisture is lost primarily through the leaves, so you need to decrease leaf surface, or raise humidity to a point where the leaves will  not be able to shed moisture. Dry air and heat (sunlight) increases moisture use and/or loss. However, if you decrease leaf surface, you also decrease photosynthesis which will ultimately be needed to drive recovery and new growth - again, a balancing act.

Jon,

In the area where Gene is located, humidity levels in the ambient air range from ~50-85% through out the day.  I have yet to tent anything in Houston because of this.  Increasing the humidity level (and removing air-flow) will likely lead to fungal growth (Rust) on the leaves which would likely cause defoliation.

James,

That was why I went back to the principles, rather than just the advice, and you have illustrated the point I was trying to make: You understand the principles and requirements, and you meet the humidity requirement by living in Houston. I would have to meet them by using a tent, greenhouse, or some such thing. We have the same requirements, but different solutions. Personally, I like my solution better - it beats living in Houston. But for the last three days, I have been misting and shading the newly rooted cuttings that I potted up because the temps on Saturday were 69-70ish, and yesterday and today they are 80-85 (unpredicted by the weather man who saw 70ish all week with a dip to low 60s on Wednesday).  Conditions changed, so response had to change.

Again, that was why I tried top take it back to the principles and goals, and you have illustrated that well.

Thanks for all the replies. So what did I do. I took the better looking one with the most roots and potted it up in a mixture of perlite, floor dry and potting mix that was mostly small pine bark. I soaked it thoroughly and put in complet shade under the mulberry tree. The other which had only parts of the main root, because a part of it got torn off, with little small roots and potted it in the same mixture. Only this one which looked much drier than the other with all the new growth wilted, I pruned all the new growth off hoping it will sprout some new buds. Thanks for the help, now I wait and see. "gene".