hey Josh. I live in Ohio and it faces the south near the sliding glass door and it gets maybe 4-5 hours of sunlight through the porch window, maybe more indirect sunlight, too--not sure because I'm at work.
Thanks for commenting.
Did you look at the attachment, for some reason it's not clickable, I think you have to copy the link (minus the IMG tags) and paste it.

Howdy!
In Ohio, without a very sunny window or a greenhouse, et cetera, you won't see much growth.
My Pachira has the advantage of an eastern and southern window to limp it through the Winter,
but even so my plant only puts out a few weak leaves from Fall to Spring.

To display the picture, you need to use the HTML code, not the IMG. 3rd code option, I think.

I did look at the pic and that is exactly how your plant should look. Those shoots will eventually
expand and take off. Just give it some time. Looks very healthy from what I can see.

The next thing to do will be to evaluate the soil and the roots. I would re-pot around the Solstice.
Pachira do exceptionally well in a free-draining porous mix that can be thoroughly and frequently
watered during the Summer, and which dries readily during the Winter so as to avoid root-rot.

Josh

Thank you very much for the vote of confidence in this fussy tree. From what I gathered on the net, people from all over the country are having problems with them....maybe because we are inexperienced, who knows, but it still seems like a fussy plant.

My Pachira sits in a VERY sunny window, recieving direct sun pretty much from sunup to sundown. My setup is ideal in that the shelf that my sun loving plants sit atop is located directly in front of a southwest window, with a southeast sliding glass door immediately adjacent to it. This leads to all day sun, and even with that, my Pachira only popped one small leaf out all winter. It has now started to put out small, new leaves. Have no fear, it WILL start growing.

As for the part about them being fussy, I woudld have to disagree. Mine has been a joy, for about 8 years or so now. It typically grows about 6 feet per year, which I cut back in spring. Last year though, I put it in barkless gritty mix, and regulated the fertilizer a bit to keep the rampant growth down. The best tip I have though, is to watch your watering. Although they are a wetlands plant, that logic does not apply in container culture. They dislike wet feet, and WILL rot if you overwater. Also, if you grow in bagged soil like Miracle Grow, you will likely find unhealthy roots, especially in the middle of the rootball. This adds to the threat of rotting. Josh has it right in his last paragraph, in fact, he has it perfect.

Joe

Thanks a lot Joe!