I purchased a bare root Orange Pippin this past spring and temporarily planted it in a large planter (20 gallons or so). The tree had good growth and foliage until we had a bit of a heat wave 80 + F. During this time I was doing some traveling and was spending most of my time at work and assumed my wife was watering the tree. To my dismay she was watering our entire garden save for the tree in the planter . Upon finding my little tree dry and neglected I made sure it was thoroughly hydrated but alas the damage was done. By late August the tree had shed its leaves. Asides from waiting for the spring can one tell if the tree is still viable?
You could try cutting a few inches off the top or off a main shoot to see if the wood inside is green. At this stage the best thing to do is probably to wait for spring, if the tree is alive the buds on the stem and main shoots will start to swell. Good luck!
"Green" can also appear when dry, the bark/cambium should show moisture and not have any signs of shrunken/shriveling. Start at the top, work down the tree, finally the final survivor will regrow likely at the crown-right above the graft union depending on how dry. It sounds like it went into survivor mode and it will resprout where it can-then you just cut off the dead branches beyond the resprout
. Upon finding my little tree dry and neglected I made sure it was thoroughly hydrated but alas the damage was done. By late August the tree had shed its leaves. Asides from waiting for the spring can one tell if the tree is still viable? 