Beard...My sympathies....loosing a nice tree can be sorrowful.

I live just west of Philly, PA. I have maybe 8 or 9 Pondys from Andy...oldest maybe 350 yrs.
I always let the newly acquired tree sit for 1 full year, to allow it to adjust to my climate. This also gives me time to study the tree, and note any nasty conditions that appear. Always suspect borers or fungus, as Tom suggests, particularly in a collected tree.
I lost a magnificent Rocky Mountain Juniper to borers, so always watch for any signs.

All of my Ponderosas stay outside all year. They freeze solid as a rock in the winter (but they did in their native area, high above Deadwood S. Dakota!), and of course get full sun all year. I tend to keep them a bit on the dry side, even in hot weather. My mix is 1/3 grower grit, 1/3 Co. red lava rock, and 1/3 white pumice...the trees do really well with it. Of course I feed them every 2 weeks, so they stay happy trees....

Don't give up on Ponderosas...get another from Andy, or Todd, and get back in the game!
Flex

BTW...that's my Ponderosa Tom has at the Vault entry door.....

Hello, all,

Thanks for all the responses. I do appreciate them. And if you have more thoughts, I'm ready to read them.

Let me correct myself on one point. I found my raw notes from the workshop; and Andy did say that he recommends leaving a collected tree in the same pot for 2-3 years after collection. My "rememberer" dropped that. But, my tree was collected in July of '06, so by the time I repotted it had been in that pot 2-1/2 years, within Andy's recommended time range.

I have heard back from him. He also mentioned that he doesn't repot until warm weather arrives. In his experience, trees collected in April (late winter for him?) struggle a lot more than trees collected in May or June. That may have been the root problem. (Sorry!) I repotted in late winter, and the tree stayed cold for another month, at least.

John, I think I misunderstood something you posted once on BT. You said you repot ponderosas in March, and I assumed that meant during dormancy. But in your response to this thread you also mentioned that, having been kept in a poly house, your ponderosas are coming out of dormancy by then, pushing new growth. That fits in with what Andy said. Apparently that's why my tree couldn't make it: timing.

I still wonder what was in Andy's soil that caused that frost ridge to heave up when it froze. Any ideas, speculation, wild guesses?

And John, I am definitely interested to hear any conclusions you come to about the fact that the newer foliage died first.

PS When does the Pine Study Group meet again?