Green but did not bud

W

Wyokid2009

Location
Minnesoota
All, I searched and read the forums, but did not find an answer to my question of: Do I start over?

I purchased 2 hackberry trees bare root from our city during Arbor days. They were starting to bud when I got them. I followed the directions carefully planting them in a hole leaving the top root barely above the soil within 48 hours of receipt (3 in my case) being careful to ensure the roots would grow out into the soil. I used "tree soil" from a local nursery for fill instead of our normal clay. I also used a tree watering bag and mulch. After 2 months, the trees haven't budded. The branches are still green and supple, but no buds or leaves. Do I leave the trees up for next year or cut my losses and try again? Thanks.
 
Any photos showing the planting? University of Minnesota Cooperative Extension provides a lot of information on tree care and would know something about local needs of hackberry. I have (slightly) more experience with hackberry as an urban tree in SE Pennsylvania, where it can be something of a weed. My point is that I don't really know what to expect here, but perhaps these comments will prompt some of your neighbors to respond.

"starting to bud when I got them". What does that mean? That dormant buds were present and starting to swell up or ?

So they were starting to bud when you got them yet "After 2 months, the trees haven't budded". Does that mean the buds haven't opened and haven't produced shoots?

I know civic groups hand out free plants. Even my outfit does from time-to-time. Nice point of community involvement, but I'm usually skeptical about plant quality in those projects. To the customer or end-user, cost of the seedling is slight compared to the energy involved in site preparation, planting, care, and meeting expectations!
 
Good morning,

To address your particular issue based on a limited amount of info, I'd venture to suggest they are being over-watered. Did you plant them in a container or your property? If your soil is heavy clay, which holds much more moisture, then your "hole" could be a "bowl" full of water.

Having said that, I find it peculiar that a municipality would "give out" Hackberry saplings/Liners for Arbor Day? Do they grow much slower up in colder climates? Here in Texas, they are very susceptible to disease, wind damage and are considered a "trash tree" by many.
 
Hackberry is one of the few varieties that need to go through a "sweating" process to be planted successfully as a bare root. Sweating is fairly simple, but timing is the key. Full bud swell and even some new growth start during this process before they are put in the ground which means they will be susceptible to frost damage if sweated and planted early in the season. Planting before doing this or before they are fully sweated can "trick" (for lack of a better term) into staying dormant, which sounds like the case for your tree. I can't say if the tree will come back as I don't have any experience with letting them go to find out.

If you really wanted to be adventurous, take the tree back out of the ground and try sweating it.

http://www.mnstac.org/sweating.html
 
Sackett_TX said:
Good morning,

To address your particular issue based on a limited amount of info, I'd venture to suggest they are being over-watered. Did you plant them in a container or your property? If your soil is heavy clay, which holds much more moisture, then your "hole" could be a "bowl" full of water.

Having said that, I find it peculiar that a municipality would "give out" Hackberry saplings/Liners for Arbor Day? Do they grow much slower up in colder climates? Here in Texas, they are very susceptible to disease, wind damage and are considered a "trash tree" by many.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I wonder if overwatering could be the culprit. We have had a lot of rain this spring and summer too.
 
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