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Monkey Puzzle Tree turning brown?

#1 · 8th January 2023, 8:00 pm

I have a three year old monkey puzzle tree that has recently been terribly neglected by me due to building works at home. It has lived all its life in a largish square pot and got moved when building started and has had no watering for nearly &6 months except for natural rainfall.
It has gone totally brown and I thought it was now dead. But today I noticed lots of new Green shoots at the bottom 4/5 inches of the main stem.
should I cut of all the brown stem and branches or should I just replant it in the garden and let it recover by itself. Any suggestions please.

#2 · 9th January 2023, 8:03 am

Quote from Lee Garden Ninja on 9th January 2023, 8:03 am
Hi @ratshandley
Thanks for your question about the Monkey Puzzle tree - Araucaria araucana, which is one of the most interesting and oldest conifers to ever exist!
It's s shame that sometimes, with building work or other time commitments, plants can get left behind. But don't worry it happens to the best of us. Even I've forgotten about the odd container plant that I've been meaning to repot or look after.
Why has my monkey puzzle tree turned brown?
There are three main causes of browning leaves or branches on a Monkey puzzle tree.
Shedding old leaves (naturally occurring)
Drought (not enough water)
Exposure to extreme frost and wind (usually when a young tree)
Can I prune a Monkey puzzle tree?
The first thing to note is that evergreen conifers, such as Monkey puzzle trees, do not regrow from old wood. What that means is if you prune out the brown or dead matter, it won't regenerate from that place, so you'll end up with bare patches if you don't do it uniformly. Trimming evergreen conifers always needs to be done little by little and uniformly. Never cutting back into old dusty wood.
Old branches that are a decade or so old near the base are the first to be pruned usually with a tree crown lift.
With Monkey puzzle trees wear really thick gloves like these Goldleaf ones. I've used these on the sharpest of thorns, roses and Monkey puzzle trees. You can read more on these gloves here. (This is an affiliate link so if you do choose to buy receive a small commission that helps keep this blog free to use!)
Will my brown monkey puzzle tree recover?
Usually, a healthy Monkey tree will have its oldest lowest branches turn brown as it ages. This is before it sheds them as they have come to the end of their life.
It's going to be 50/50 if your tree regenerates. I wouldn't prune it as we know this is going to stop any new growth. What you can do is give it a good liquid feed and see if it regenerates new leaves on the older branches. At worst it may help it send out a new green 'leader shoot' from the top and then it's a case of waiting for some new branches to appear before pruning out the brown lower ones.
If you can add a picture I can provide a bit more advice.
Hope that helps!
Lee

Hi @ratshandley

Thanks for your question about the Monkey Puzzle tree - Araucaria araucana, which is one of the most interesting and oldest conifers to ever exist!

It's s shame that sometimes, with building work or other time commitments, plants can get left behind. But don't worry it happens to the best of us. Even I've forgotten about the odd container plant that I've been meaning to repot or look after.

Why has my monkey puzzle tree turned brown?

There are three main causes of browning leaves or branches on a Monkey puzzle tree.

Shedding old leaves (naturally occurring)
Drought (not enough water)
Exposure to extreme frost and wind (usually when a young tree)

Can I prune a Monkey puzzle tree?

The first thing to note is that evergreen conifers, such as Monkey puzzle trees, do not regrow from old wood. What that means is if you prune out the brown or dead matter, it won't regenerate from that place, so you'll end up with bare patches if you don't do it uniformly. Trimming evergreen conifers always needs to be done little by little and uniformly. Never cutting back into old dusty wood.

Old branches that are a decade or so old near the base are the first to be pruned usually with a tree crown lift.

With Monkey puzzle trees wear really thick gloves like these Goldleaf ones. I've used these on the sharpest of thorns, roses and Monkey puzzle trees. You can read more on these gloves here. (This is an affiliate link so if you do choose to buy receive a small commission that helps keep this blog free to use!)

Will my brown monkey puzzle tree recover?

Usually, a healthy Monkey tree will have its oldest lowest branches turn brown as it ages. This is before it sheds them as they have come to the end of their life.

It's going to be 50/50 if your tree regenerates. I wouldn't prune it as we know this is going to stop any new growth. What you can do is give it a good liquid feed and see if it regenerates new leaves on the older branches. At worst it may help it send out a new green 'leader shoot' from the top and then it's a case of waiting for some new branches to appear before pruning out the brown lower ones.

If you can add a picture I can provide a bit more advice.

Hope that helps!

Lee

#3 · 9th January 2023, 6:43 pm

Hi Lee,

Thanks for your advice.

Three pictures of my MP Tree attached - be grateful for your comments and further advice.

Cheers Dave

Uploaded files:

#4 · 10th January 2023, 8:26 am

Hi @ratshandley

Thanks for the additional pics of your Monkey Puzzle tree.

Gosh it really is brown, isn't it? Showing the drought damage.

There are green leaves appearing further down the stem, which usually is a good sign. However, with conifers, they have really strong apical growth, i.e. the top tip of the plant controls pretty much all growth. When you cut it back, it doesn't send out side shoots like most other plants. It literally stops the conifer from growing any further 'upwards growth' side growth is also reduced as you've removed this apical tip where the hormones are active.

What does apical dominance mean?

Apical dominance is the phenomenon where the main or central stem of the plant (usually considers) is dominant over the rest of the plant and lower branches. Making the main stem grow more strongly than other side stems or shoots.

It means that usually, you could cut back to the new growth, but with conifers, it just spells the death of the plant as it turns into a squat blob with lacklustre growth further down. You may have seen this with 'topped conifers' where tree surgeons cut the top off but it never regrows, leaving a brown void at the top and awkwardly shaped trees. For further reference, always use an arborist, not just a tree surgeon, whenever having trees pruned. That way they can sculpt the tree rather than butcher it.

What I'd recommend is to give it until April to see if any of the top growth regrows leaves. If not, I think it's toast and would be easier to replace instead of years of heartache over a badly shaped and awkwardly growing Monkey Puzzle.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

All the best