Hi thanks for your help rhizo. The plant is about 15-16 inches from the bottom of the pot to the highest tip on the plant. The pot itself is 4 inches. My mom said she received the plant as a gift from a coworker on dec 23. (Probably bought at Walmart or somewhere, it was in one of those cardboard boxes with "Charlie brown christmas tree" on it) also when I took it off my moms not so green thumbs it was just sitting in the box in a very wet baggy of water, obviously over watered. So on about dec 29 I removed it from that and put it into a small bowl to drain. Also didn't water it for about a week after that? Figured it had enough h2o. Also, more question arise .. The more you post the more you learn :) ... What exactly should I be looking for in the root ball? Thanks for all the help!

This is going to go against the grain, but so beit. I have read the experts writing about Norfolk pines and their need for high humidity and not planting in climates over 95 degrees and this, that and the other thing. Well, 4 years ago, after Christmas, I bought 4 of them at Home Depot, they had marked them down less than half off. At the time I knew nothing about them and so I planted 3 of them in direct sunlight and the 4th I planted in front of my house. I live in Phoenix, AZ btw. The 3 in direct sunlight died, of course. But the 4th? It's been in the ground for 4 years now. It has endured temperatures as high as 117 degrees. It is VERY dry here most of the year. I water it every other day. It doesn't grow very fast, admittedly, maybe a few inches per year. But, I don't care about that aspect of it, it's an absolutely beautiful tree, growing outside, in the Sonoran desert. It has also withstood a moderate frost - though some of the tips of some of the branches died out during that episode, amazingly, it made a comeback on those branches as well and started growing again! It is never in direct sunlight - well some portions of branches that grew out got into the direct sunlight and it didn't care for that at all. However, the way this thing is growing, it will just be a small, beautiful tree that does nothing but add to the look of my front yard. It would be interesting, however, for all the experts (of which I am definitely not) to tell me how all of you say that these trees cannot possibly grow outside, especially in Arizona in the desert? My tree seems to be contradicting that logic.

Don't plant it within 100 feet of anything you care about. It's not invasive, but they're extremely brittle. One across the street came down in a mild March thunderstorm - not a hurricane - a couple years ago, crushing my boyfriend's car. The storm snapped it off at 10 feet above the ground. The ten-foot stump finally came down in a thunderstorm a few months ago, taking out a neighbor's fence. (these were planted in the right-of-way and the whole neighborhood had to beg the city to take its twin out.) They also tend to get kind of scraggly looking as they get taller. They don't keep that pretty conical shape down here. And because they get so tall, taking one out can require a tree guy with a cherry picker to top it several times in order to get rid of it without endangering nearby houses (had to do that in another house years ago, it's expensive.) I'd advise against anyone down here planting them. I know Geico would.

Thank you all so much! I guess I will just keep taking care of it the way I have and wait paitently for it to recover. I can't tell you all how mortified I have been. But am breathing a bit easier now knowing that it can still live. I don't care if it looks funny or has a lean kink or whatever to it. I just want it to be ok, and it seems like it might be now. Lots of tlc, light, good water, and feeding will keep it going. Thanks again!