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Emergency Transplant Surgery

The parent of my Avatar became ill from a collapse of the soil in which it was potted. I transplanted it to the front yard (in the ground) with some potting soil, cow manure, and top dressed in some milled egg shells. That was many months ago and as you can see; it's looking pretty pathetic. I fed it everything known to humans and finally backed off and have ignored it for more than 2 months. Nothing. All it's done is stay alive; that in itself is an accomplishment. Four days ago I decided I'd give it one last try to get it back from the brink and here's the process; from the ground to a pot...

In the ground.
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Cont'd;

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I just did this about 1-1/2 hours ago; so I'll be updating as things, hopefully, progress. Cheers.
 
there's no stem rot in sight and the main branch is looking good.

I'd cut back the branches and then repot or replant.

Good luck on the rescue, Verne. I've seen worse off plants bouncing back looking better than ever.
 
I'm very interested to see how you get on. and thanks for the step by step as well, I've been pretty apprehensive about a total change in soil.
 
I'm very interested to see how you get on. and thanks for the step by step as well, I've been pretty apprehensive about a total change in soil.

You're welcome. This has been discussed quite a bit and I'm a proponent of this procedure. It is severe but the option is to loose the plant, IMO. Since I was going to do this I thought it a good idea to document it with photos. If it's helpful, then all the better. Cheers.

Edit; I'll be updating this as the plant recovers.
 
I had a few plants go like that this year, side by side with 5 foot monsters, same soil, same ferts, same watering regime. I just left them as they were, 2 died and 2 recovered but didn't grow anymore. I figure if a plant is weak then I don't want to grow any plants from its seeds so it isn't worth saving anyway. I try not to mess with natural selection.
 
I had a few plants go like that this year, side by side with 5 foot monsters, same soil, same ferts, same watering regime. I just left them as they were, 2 died and 2 recovered but didn't grow anymore. I figure if a plant is weak then I don't want to grow any plants from its seeds so it isn't worth saving anyway. I try not to mess with natural selection.

Unfortunately, this isn't about natural selection; it's about human error. :(
 
I trimmed back the plant a lot. This is the 4th day since the bare root transplant and the plant is stable; so I wanted a shaped plant when it starts to put on foliage again.

CRRUpdated.jpg
 
Okay; here's an update 3 weeks to the day (21 days) after my "Emergency Transplant Procedures". Remember this?

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Today;

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It's been more than 4 months since this plant looked this healthy.
 
that looks 100% better now, the new growth looks healthy and strong! I might give it a go on a bhut i have. Cheers for the update Ajarn
 
that looks 100% better now, the new growth looks healthy and strong! I might give it a go on a bhut i have. Cheers for the update Ajarn
I appreciate your interest and support.
If you do this to your Bhut, just make sure it goes into a proven soil/potting mix. It's definitely not a time to experiment with a new soil. Cheers.
 
No worries mate, have got a descent potting mix that i use for my seedlings, so i'll give that a go. when i get round to it
 
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