I took a baby Golden Rain Tree from my girlfriends mom and brought it back to my place in Pacific Beach in San Diego. It seems for awhile - it was growing really good - then all of a sudden - it started losing its leaves to the point of which it was bare... I figured it was a seasonal occurance and they would grow back at some point stronger... However - someone came by and broke off one of the main branches for whatever reason and the tree is now bare, broke, and looks pretty desolate... I keep watering it - and I figured that even though a branch was broken - the roots should still be in good condition because the soil is a good Home Depot soil and I take care of it... The question is: if the roots are in good condition still - wouldn't the tree still continue to grow and sprout new branches/leaves at some point if I maintain watering it and such?? I think I see new small little nubs - but not sure if they were always there or if they are new... I have a picture of it when it was still in good growth... Thanks.
Indeed, it is a seasonal occurrence for a deciduous tree and it will grow new leaves in spring. Even with the broken branch, there should still be other dormant buds that will start growing shortly. A note on your watering though....a tree with no leaves doesn't require as much water as a growing tree. Soil should be moist but really wet soil can rot the roots.
Cool deal... Well hopefully that's the case and we'll see some growth in the near future because it really is an awesome looking tree - even in the juvenille stages it looks prett cool... Thanks for the info.
Here is a new picture of the current status of the tree taken earlier today... You can see how bare it is at the moment after shedding all the leaves... I guess someone thought it was completely dead and maybe that's why they came by and broke off the top branch... But if you look close - you can see all the little nubs and these are what I am hoping are new growth stubs that will start to grow at some point...
