Dwarf willow.. did I kill it

I decided to move the approximately 5 year old, potted, dwarf willow from the centre of the “lawn” where it had been merrily growing for the last couple of years. It wouldn’t budge..Thinking it was the weight of the tree, soil and pot I tried tugging a bit harder… no joy. I tipped the pot to find the roots had grown through the pots drain hole and firmly anchored the tree through the gaps in the crazy paving. Naively assuming there would be sufficient roots remaining in the pot I cut the root to free up the tree and moved it away. Now three weeks later the dwarf willow appears to have died. Although it hasn’t dropped any leaves They have browned and shrivelled.

Do you think it’s dead or will it come back next year?

 

Before, roots and after

 

Hi from past gardeners comments Trees that have recently been transplanted often experience a difficult period of transplant shock, leading to a host of potential problems, including leaf wilt, leaf scorch, yellowing leaves, and leaf rolling or curling
Not nessarary to water more often. just because it has brown leaves when its foliage would normally be green. Don't worry if your tree is experiencing transplant shock, as most often it will be overcome with time. Usually, if you consistently give it the right amount of water, the tree will begin to thrive when it starts to take root. Found this site

Newly Planted Tree Leaves Turning Brown, Yellow or Wilting ...
blog.davey.com/2017/05/newly-planted-tree-leaves...

 

@enc I fear it could be, I would leave it in a shady spot until next spring and then it might surprise you.
It does appear to have left a lot of root in the ground and the top was certainly growing well. When moving trees and bushes in growth if you cannot get a large root ball then you cut back the top considerably so that the remaining root can support it.
Last autumn I had to move a tender shrub back into the greenhouse and it had about 3 months of root in the ground so I tugged and it came up. The next afternoon it had wilted, picked up on being watered, but required some weeks of attention and TLC even in at that time of year.

 

Thanks Janet, fingers crossed and thanks for the link.

 

thanks for the info nigel. I’d assumed because the tub is so large there would be enough roots remaining. Obviously not I guess it’s like Severing the trees main artery. Do you think it would be worth cutting back the top now ?

 

No I don't think so at this stage, if it reshoots next year then I would prune it.
Once the leaves have gone brown and shrivelled then they are taking very little ffrom the root system.

 

Ok thanks Nigel.

 

I think it's probably very mostly dead, with an extremely slight chance of it coming back next year due to it being willow.

As in one of my sticky posts regarding roots the tree's main way of absorbing water and nutrients are through the very fine root hairs located at the tips of the root structure. These root hairs are very delicate but necessary for the tree to function. In one of your photos it looks like a lot of the root structure with the root hairs has been severed from the tree - so the tree is experiencing some degree of shock at not being able to absorb the amount of water / nutrients that is has grown used to.

Saying that - it is willow, and they can be pretty hard to kill outright. There may be enough water-absorbing roots in the pot to see it through. Whether it's enough for the tree to support the canopy it has is another question. It may be prudent to reduce or remove the branches in the crown and see if any dormant buds develop as the tree's health improves.

 

Thanks for the info. I’ve pretty much cropped it right back. I think the damage was already done so I guess there’s nothing to loose. Will wait till next year and see how it goes.

 

Update , it didnt come back

 

Hi I wouldn't give up yet