Is My Tamarind Tree Dead?

Question

This may be a vague question, so I apologize in advance. I have a tamarind sapling approximately 1.5 years old that I started from a seed. It's been grown indoors since I live in the northeastern US, and I've kept it under lights since it was in a dark corner of the room. It seemed to be thriving, growing new leaves and even branches.

I've recently moved, and placed it near a window(north facing) and didn't set up any lights, thinking that the natural light from the window would be sufficient. I also held off watering all my plants for a couple weeks so they can get adjusted to their new location(I only water after the soil usually dries out anyway, which is usually after about a week).

When I finally went to water it (2 weeks since the last watering) I noticed all the leaves were kind of droopy. I also noticed some shedding. I thought, oh crap I waited too long to water it, and gave it some hoping it would bounce back. Over the next couple days I noticed more and more shedding, and when I shook the plant, more and more leaves fell off. Today it's mostly bare, save for maybe about 10 leaves.

Since this is a tropical plant, I don't expect any shedding over the winter, so I know I've messed up. Should I consider this plant dead, or is there a chance that it could bounce back?

Answer 1

If you didn't water it, it's no surprise it's dropped some leaves, but it may also be suffering from transition shock from when you moved. Unless you transferred it to transport outdoors in a mini greenhouse, it will have briefly been exposed to presumably cold air, and then transported in either a hot/warm car, or the back of a cold van.

It certainly does not look dead, there are still obvious signs of life, but it looks as if it needs a bigger pot, judging by the height of the top growth. Regardless, I'm not sure you should repot right now, it probably needs a bit of time to recover, but the other thing that might be a concern is the windowsill it's now placed upon. You say it's north facing; I can see the window is double glazed, which should technically mean it's not too cold for it, but just check at night how cold it is there in comparison to the rest of the room - double glazed or not, many double glazed units are not perfectly sealed and do allow some cold air ingress.

You may need to cut it back if it does not produce new growth all over, but keep it watered (but not too wet) and see how it goes. If it starts putting out new growth, then repot in spring, but if it doesn't after a month, check the root ball by turning it out of its pot to see if it is pot bound. If it is, repot into something a little bigger, using new potting soil.