Dried avocado plant rescue

[hjd]

I'm hoping someone can give me advise on the following We have two 2-3 ft avocado plants, each in there own large pot. I accidently let one get too dry. The leaves are all very dry (the crumble), but the stems are still soft and green. When I discovered it, I added water to the pot. Now, with no viable leaves, can I bring this plant back? If so, should I remove the dead leaves? Is there some kind of plant food that would promote new leaves forming. The plants were grown from seed by my wife, who is away for a month, and will return in two weeks. She will be very pissed. Help!

hjd

[Treedweller]

If the stems are not brittle, there is still hope. Whether you pull off the leaves or not matters little or not at all (they will fall off on their own eventually). There's nothing you can add to it to help the situation. Just don't let it dry out so much again (but don't leave it standing in water, either) and cross your fingers.

k

[Charles]

And don't give up too soon. At an orchard near where I worked, after a cold spell, the trees stayed without leaves for over a year but all came back and continued to produce.

Good luck with the wife, that can be a real problem.

[Kay Lancaster]

Don't pull off the leaves -- the plant is probably recovering nutrients from them for several weeks to months. At least give them the time till she gets back.

Other than that, keep the soil moist but not soggy and don't let the root ball sit in water. There are no magic plant foods to suddenly cause leaf primordia to fully develop immediately, but they'll do it on their own time.

Tincture of Time is a very necessary element in gardening, indoors and out.

Ah well, see if you can find a couple of mangoes that haven't been chilled too badly, and sprout their seeds. They've got really decorative leaves, and they should be on their way by the time she gets home.