In article , woodco
writes


I bought a monkey puzzle tree around a foot high and planted it in a very
large tub in my garden in the north of scotland, I have seen other mature
trees around my area so know that they will grow.

It seemed to be ok and looked like new growth was slowly happening but just
lately i have noticed that the ends of a few of the fronds ( sic ) have gone
brown for about an inch or two and look like they are rotting, if i touch
them the brown spiky leaves come off in my hand.

Could I have overwatered or should so young a tree be indoors in our winter
?
If your tub has drainage holes it's more likely that it got to dry at
some point. I've never seen them grown in tubs - don't know how they'd
feel about that.

They are a bit tender when young - particularly unhappy about wind in
winter which dries them out. It's a bit early for winter to have had
that effect - I'd expect that to show in the spring - unless it's *last*
winter that did for it.

I killed our first one over winter, so when I replaced it, I erected a
windbreak around it in the autumn - twigs vertically in the ground,
interwoven with old montbretia foliage. That was enough to break the
force of the wind, and for the next two years I made slightly flimsier
windbreaks. The tree is now about 7 ft high and I don't anticipate it
needing any particular care in the future.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm