I would leave it alone and see how it develops as the weather warms up. You can always cut the tip later if it shows rot.

Mike

My singapores did the same thing. One tip was a little blacker than the others. That one I cut the tip off, figuring it will branch off. It also confirmed to me that the branch was good, since the inside was white and the latex oozed out. I left the other ones alone. I am just waiting and watching. A couple of the branches have sprouted new leaves already, but some haven't. I guess tiime will tell?

Irun,

If your plant was hit by cold temps/frost then there maybe more then meets eye. You may have to wait for 3 weeks or longer to see the actual damage. Sometimes after the cold temps the tips/branches will look ok, but when the temps start to get warm black sap will ooze out and then you will notice branches shrivel. Sometimes if your luck you will only see cracking in them. I hope your singapore ends up being ok, personally I hate the cold temps..

Thanks for the pointers so far. This was probably a month ago and we've had temps in the 70's so I'm fairly sure that the damage in this case is truly what meets the eye.

I'm leaning toward leaving it alone since there are no signs of it worsening at the moment. As pointed out, if it does start to rot I can then do surgery and might even be rewarded with branching.

I'm hoping the warmer weather is here to stay at least in this part of the country. All my plants think that it is- would hate to see them get disappointed!

Just a follow up- I ended up not pruning anything off and I'm glad that I restrained myself- the tip that had some minor damage now has an inflo forming and is starting a 3-way branch. In fact, the plant has 3 tips and 2 already have well-formed inflos and it looks like the third tip is working on one as well.

The inflo on the tip that had some superficial blackening looks a little on the puny side- but the important thing to me is that it is branching.

I'm just a second year novice, and luck can change on a whim, but so far I've had really good luck with the Singapore....

I agree with freak4plumeria. I neglected to cover my Singapore trees when Tampa had its first freeze back in December(since then my trees were moved under tents w/sides when there was any forecast of frost). After observing them for about three weeks I thought I had minimal damage...if any. About two weeks later I got a true idea of the damage. Multiple tips started turning slightly black. After that...entire branches were affected especially after temps started warming up. In February I had to heavily pruned my trees to get to the fleshy, milky white part of the branch. The bright side is as a result of the pruning I now have tons of new growth appearing. Because the trees are over fifteen years old I feel confident some of the new growth will produce flowers this season. Keep an eye on your tips!

Good to know. I had the same thing happen to mine, I have 4 Singapores, 3 which were damaged in January sometime. I had cut the leaves off, since they were limp and many badly blackened. I cut the black tips off later on. One tree already has new growth on a couple of its branches, the other 2 I am still waiting...looks like some of the tips are coming back to life, but 2 of the trees are still leafless. I also have to add the I transplanted them into pots about a month ago as well, so I expect they have a bit to bounce back from. Time will tell.

One another note, when I dug them up from the planter, I waa amazed at how extensive the root structure was after only one year in the planter! They definitely have a heavier root structure compared to the rubras! Wow!