Brush Cherry looking wilted

I got this tree about two weeks ago. It looked very healthy. I repotted it on Friday to a new soil. I also cut some of the roots back (maybe 1/3 were removed). The tree is kept indoors under a 4500k fluorescent for about 16 hours a day (using a timer). Humidity is between 35 and 40% and temperature is 68-70 degrees. I soaked the pot in water after I reported to soak the soil. I watered again today as the soil was starting to dry about an inch deep (using chop stick method). It looks like leaves are wilting. Did I do too much at once? I can't get pics to upload to the imgserv site.... but I'll keep trying. :-(

Waiting to see those pictures. BC can tolerate that light level. Watering and temp seem okay for BC. Not the best time of year for repotting it(early summer is a good time). Avoid the temptation to water more often than it needs right now. You want to help it and the tendency is to do something. If it is going to recover, it is just going to take time. If it has lost more root than necessary to support amount of foliage, then it could drop some leaves, but if it does survive it will bounce back well. My tropical trees seem to do best if I can provide humidity of at least 50% and some air circulation.

If you are new to BC's, they easily form what people call lollipops- a skinny trunk and a ball of dense foliage. If you like that, fine. If not, prune a lot. Clip and grow method works well imho.

Here it is...

Yeah, pretty tough right now. It could well lose the majority of its leaves before bouncing back. You said it was growing well before, so I assume it is fairly healthy and has a good chance of recovery. BC's don't like to be dry, but again don't water extra to 'nurture' it. The repotting this time of year has given it a good shock, and it will slowly get back to normal water absorption and growing.

I really hope you're right... I hope it can survive. I just really liked the "dainty-ness" of this little tree. It did appear VERY healthy when I first recieved it, so I'm hoping that there is still enough life left in that little trunk to keep this thing alive. I've been letting the soil get fairly dry between waterings, so it's getting water about 1-2 times a week. I guess now the hard part... just wait and see.

Well... I don't know much about this variety of tree, but I'm afraid it's dead... or soon will be. It is still holding all of it's leaves, but they have shriveled up even more, and are hard to the touch... but the leaves won't fall off. They are still attached pretty well. I'm trying to be conserverative with watering, and only giving a little water when the soil seems near dry throughout (using the chopstick method). How long should I give it before I give up?

Forbes,

try scratching the bark, with just enough force [ gently ] to remove a huh of the bark. If it is alive, the underneath will be green.
Try again.
Until.
Khaimraj

Sounds like all those leaves are goners.  If the test Khaimraj mentioned shows some green, it may yet leaf out again.  Still need to avoid over/underwatering. If you can, get another to nurture while this one is on life-support.

I scratched the bark last night, just below the bottom branch and it is still very green... which I actually didn't expect. I thought about removing the dry, shriveled leaves, but they are still attached very well, and that makes me think that maybe the tree is still using them... I don't want to cause any more stress than what the tree is already under from root prunning and repotting. I guess since it's green under the bark, I'll continue the course i'm on with light watering when it's about dried out and wait and see what happens. I'm just getting started again and I've only got a few trees, and they are all in about the same phase (repotted in new soil, some were root pruned), so for my four or five that seem to be hanging in there and coping with my indoor setup, I've just got to be patient. That's hard for me sometimes.

Thank you all.

Not sure if anyone (other than me ) cares really, but I thought I'd give a little update on my wilted brush cherry. After the root pruning and repotting, the leaves started to look wilted and became very dried and hard as in the photo above. They became even less colorful and more wilted (very dry and hard feeling), yet the leaves could not easily be removed from the branches. They still feel as though they are attached, so I decided to leave them in place, as perhaps they were still offering the tree some nutrition. I only watered in small amounts every few days (every 4-5 days). It has been kept indoors in a makeshift green house with 16hrs of fluoroescent lighting. I did a very small "scratch test" on the bark twice, both times showing very green under the very thin bark. Last week I noticed several new green buds sprouting throughout the tree and I am happy to report they are growing very well, and it looks as though there may be more coming. I'm anxious to see if the tree drops the old leaves once it has pushed out some new ones. Regardless, I thought this tree was doomed, and it was one that I really liked for some reason... i'm glad i took the advice of some of you to just leave it alone, give a little sip of water, and wait. This time, the results were good.

It's always good to hear a happy ending.

Good news! You are doing the right things apparently. Don't know what plans you have for it in the coming year, but I would suggest very little, other than growing and getting its strength back.

You probably ought to just pull off the dead leaves. They're contributing nothing to the tree.

Just watch your watering.
Best to you.
Khaimraj

Good save!

For what it is worth, if a tree I like wilts or drops all leaves, I usually will keep watering them (much the same way you did) for upwards of 3 or more months. It is surprising how many are able to come back from these sorts of trauma. Ficus, especially willow leafed Ficus, can endure long droughts (caused by either lack of water, or lack of roots). Pomegranate, Bouganvillea and many other sub-tropical and tropical trees to lesser degrees also can do this.

Do try to get a few months of growth before another "drought" incident, so the tree can pick up vigor. And let it grow out for at least 6 months before pruning again. It needs to recover. With winter hardy trees, we would say don't do anything until next year, but your 16 hr day light garden will allow the tree to "think spring", and get some good growth for the next 6 months. Then you can decide what to cut. My bush cherry seems to need a pruning every 3 months. I have mine under a 400 watt high pressure sodium lamp, with a similar day length.

Good growing