the dried out but bendy tips...

Gill from the UK.

Sorry you lost so many. Try to refrain from picking off the leaves and allow them to drop on their own. Tips normally don't shrivel when they go dormant but your plant doesn't look bad. I'd just keep them warm and dry for now and see what happens. Good luck.

Hello Karyn, thanks for the advice, I do appreciate it as I'm out on a limb with these fellahs. I'll do exactly as you suggest and hope for the best.
Think I'll need a shed load of good luck though, it's worse than looking after 3 kids under 6!!
Gill from the UK.

Hi Gill,

I agree with Karyn.. Mine look like yours right now and i am not to concerned. You have good reason to be worried since your housekeeper watered them and the house was cold, but these really are tough trees and i think they are just trying to decide if they want to go dormant or not. They were under different care from you and now they have to "adjust". Like Karyn suggested, let them be and keep them dry and im sure they will come back fine. I do have a few tips that have had some issues too, so i cut them off and sealed them to prevent the continued rotting on the little stem.

I understand that these are like our kids.. Really, i do!!! ;-)

Please keep us posted..

Happy New Year!!

Laura

Gill, your plants still looking okay. I hope they are hanging on until warmer months come.
Marie

Thanks Laura and Marie! I feel so silly fretting about a bunch of pesky plants, what's wrong with me, lol!! I just find them so fascinating, everyone questions what they are when they visit us! I guess it's because they are rather unique here in the UK.
The shrivelling tips are concerning me, I think I will cut the worst tip off and dust it with some cinnamon....at least the room will smell nice as I love the fragrance of spicy cinnamon!!
I will be back.....maybe quite soon for more advice and support!
Till then, thanks.
Gill from the UK.

Hi Gill,
I to get concerned and I think this is okay.
I had one of my grafted plants start to shed it's leaves and one of the branch tips started to shrivel as yours shows. The other just dropped the leaves and I can see a slight bit of green at end and it remains fine.
The shriveling one I checked with an Australian friend and they told me to cut it back so it was clear and healthy tissue with no brown or blackening within the tissue. I cut back about 1/2" and it was clear. They said to sterilize cutter and branch with prior with isopropyl alcohol.
I did not use any cinnamon ans it has dried back wonderfully.
Hope this helps,
Rick

Gill I think we all obsess over our plants. That's why we're all posting on this forum. lol

With regard to what Charles mentioned about trimming back the shriveled tissue at the tips, I only occasionally trim. If the dead portion seems to be spreading I cut back to healthy tissue and dust the cut but if the affected part is small and appears to have dried up and stopped moving down the stem I leave it be. It's usually self limiting and will eventually drop off on it's own. I've found that cutting it back can sometimes just open another avenue for rot to develop. I do the same thing with my plumies and brugs.

Rick, Karyn, hi there. Well, I already decided to trim back the 4 worst of the tips, (3 on one, 1 on another) it only needed cuts of leass than 1cm till I got rid of the wobbly bits, so I think they will be OK now. I sterilised the scalpel, dabbed the ends dry then dusted with the cinnamon, they hardly 'bled' at all. The cut off bits had no discolouration, just sunken, thin and, well, very wobbly. They're gone now, so we will see what happens next!
Called into a pet store today and picked up some pine repti-bark, small grade. Mentioned to the d/h that I now needed a snake to go with it as seemed like the obvious thing to do as they don't sell DR's till he reminded me... snake = no d/h! I still bought the bark. I am going to have a go at ammending my mix even more but wait till it warms up (that's a laugh) before I repot them. Have got vermiculite in stock, not perlite, also have some horticultural gravel and the Osmocote granules too. I previously used a small amount of seived cactus mix, discarding the fine stuff. I will struggle with the gypsum as I only need a very small amount. Need to check the kitty litter (the unused bag!!)to see what thats made from as Turface is something I've never heard of. Have some of those expanded clay granules you use for pot saucers and some baking grade ones, will they do if broken up?

Thanks for all your help and patience with me, and I agree, we (I) do stress over plants, well this type in particular. Other plants I do not get overly concerned about, if they die, so be it, but these are special to me.
Gill from the UK.

Hi Gill. I've also used the Repti-bark. Your DH sounds like mine when it comes to snakes. I'll catch garter, ring neck and small corn snakes and bring them home for the kids to look at for a day or two before releasing them. DH completely freaks out and has threatened to leave me if I took them in the house. lol

You can use the expanded clay you have. As a substitute for Turface I use a drying agent (for things like oil spills) sold at auto parts stores. It's pretty much the same thing as Turface but is only $7 USD for a 40 lb bag. I've seen Turface used mainly for building athletic fields. I also use Hydroton (a brand of expanded clay balls) and crush them up. I get that at the hydroponics store.

PS: Earlier post I said Charles instead of Rick. Sorry about that. It was still early and I hadn't filled up with enough coffee yet.

Thanks for the further info Karyn.

Gill from the UK.

Gill,
Sorry to read about your problem. The potting mix I use, and I have tried most things, is just "Miracle Gro" compost with added Perlite. I use this mix for everything from seed sowing to mature plants. Seedlings are in plastic pots but larger plants are in unglazed clay pots. As we are in the same region this may be suitable for you.