Bare Root Peach Tree Hasn't Grown

11 years ago

Hello everyone. About 1.5 months ago, I planted a Dwarf bare root July Elberta peach tree from Starkbros. I put in 3 of the StarkBros' fertilizer pellets in there and ever since, I haven't done anything with it. I've always made sure that the soil surrounding the three is moist to various degrees (I water every 3 days). It is also mulched to make sure that the soil retains its moisture.

About two weeks ago, I noticed that it had some leaves growing near the grafting line and I was advised to take that off. Ever since then, I haven't noticed anything new with the tree. It hasn't grown at all. Of the three tiny branches, two of them are green near its junction to the main trunk and one of them is broken (possibly a bird tried sitting on it).

Can anyone help? Is such lack of growth in about 1.5 months normal or is this tree on its way out?

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Comments (6)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
11 years ago
Your tree should be getting the roots established. Could you describe how you planted it and what the roots looked like? For this summer you should be watering directly on the rootball as it is unlikely any roots are as yet in your native soil, depending on your planting technique. Al
Omni
Original Author
11 years ago
Hello Al, and thank you for your reply.
I dug a hole that was 2' feet in depth and 2.5 feet in length and height. I used part miracle gro vegetable/flower bed soil and some topsoil. I mixed the two together and put some in the bottom of the hole, then put the tree in and then added the rest of the soil, making sure I patted it down. As for the fertilizer pellets that I added in, I put one in the bottom of the hole and put the other two near the boundaries of the hole towards the middle of the hole (to encourage the roots to travel). I've been watering just that part of the whole that I've dug.

The root system was pretty big and seemed sturdy, imo, when I took it out of its box.

About how long do normal bare root dwarf trees take to show signs of growth and have leaves on them?
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bamboo_rabbit
11 years ago
Omni,

I don't amend my soil AT ALL when planting trees unless there is a specific reason to do so. It could be with the mix you used and the mulch and frequent watering the tree is too wet.

Never dig the hole deeper than the rootball, bigger around is ok but you want the base of the rootball to sit on undisturbed soil.

If there are no leaves it does not need much water.

Never put fertilizer in the hole at planting.

Peach trees grow FAST....mine which were leafless sticks that I planted this spring are now 6 feet across with trunks the size of broomsticks.

You can lightly scratch the trunk with your fingernail to make sure it is alive.
Omni
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks a lot for your input!

The thing is, the soil in my backyard is clay and during the summer times (when its dry) the soil gets really hard.

As for the fertilizer, the pellets I used were from starkbros and these are the size of two nickels. They are slow-release and last upto 2 years so I think the amount of fertilizers is very minimal over a long period of time.

When bare roots grow, do they grow branches first or leave? I think I'm noticing a bunch of tiny stubs that are are just barely out of the tree trunk forming
ljkewlj
11 years ago
Omni

I planted a bare roots tree which is an Elberta Ultra dwarf (Grows to only 4 to 6 feet)from Miller's on May 1 this year.
It was about 3 feet tall when they shipped it dormant and took about 2 weeks to come out of dormancy. I just took a pic of this afternoon which I'll post with this so you can get an idea. The new growth(branches) on my tree is now up to almost 24" I won't go into all the details but I have clay here and ended up removing it and put in organic garden soil with no fertilizer used.

Also got an Ultra Goldmine nect. dwarf that didn't do anything after 4 weeks, did a scratch test and was green. Still nothing after 6 weeks so I emailed them and I'll have a new one coming next spring.
cbfindlay
10 years ago
Slightly old thread but hope someone is still out there. I also have a Stark Bros. peach that came bareroot about 3-4 weeks ago. I got it slightly late in the season. It did start to leaf out quickly, but it's only leafing out on one side of the tree! On the one side, it looks healthy enough, with it leafing out in a couple of places, a couple branches now about 6" or so and several leaves each, but there's nothing at ALL sprouting on the other. Will this thing ever fill in properly, or should I be asking for my money back?