Pear tree not waking up

TWalter91

5 year old buck +
I have a ayers pear and a sweet advent pear tree that haven't woken up yet. Both were planted at the end of March in Michigan (Zone 5a). All of the other pear and apple trees planted at the same time are doing good. The sweet advent has had some green on the buds for the past 2 weeks but very little. The ayers pear has zero sign. I scratched the bark on both trees and they are green.

I didn't want to say anything....But I was extremely disappointed in the root systems and caliper of my bluehill trees this year. Especially the "select" trees. Pretty much all of them had very small roots and were under 1/2" caliper. Not sure if it was because I maxed out the box with 14 trees and they had to compromise some or what? Still disappointed...

Trying to decide if I should give them a little longer? I have never had a tree take this long to wake up. I will attach a few pics of the trees and the root systems before I planted them. The branched tree is Ayers and the other is Sweet Advent. 1000011200.jpg1000011199.jpg1000011201.jpg1000009858.jpg
 
I'm in S Michigan, my sweet advent has fruit the size of marbles and has put on 8-10" of growth already. I have a Sundance apple that is about 5 years old and every year it wakes up weeks later than the rest of my apples/crabs. No idea why. From the charts it's not a particularly late blooming variety...some trees just beat to their own drum it seems.

Hope they pull through for you.

I agree the roots look pretty weak and I personally would have pruned down that Ayers to balance the roots to the top.
 
Call Bluehill. Ryan will make it right.
 
Call Bluehill. I have zero doubt that Ryan will make it right.
Yeah he had what thousands of leftovers going on clearance recently? Worth a try.

My 5 bluehill apples planted this yr all look great so far. That said, I've had a few of his trees die from a few yrs ago. I've had a disproportionate amount of sln and bh trees die for me vs acn, cummins, tc and grafted.
 
I have a ayers pear and a sweet advent pear tree that haven't woken up yet. Both were planted at the end of March in Michigan (Zone 5a). All of the other pear and apple trees planted at the same time are doing good. The sweet advent has had some green on the buds for the past 2 weeks but very little. The ayers pear has zero sign. I scratched the bark on both trees and they are green.

I didn't want to say anything....But I was extremely disappointed in the root systems and caliper of my bluehill trees this year. Especially the "select" trees. Pretty much all of them had very small roots and were under 1/2" caliper. Not sure if it was because I maxed out the box with 14 trees and they had to compromise some or what? Still disappointed...

Trying to decide if I should give them a little longer? I have never had a tree take this long to wake up. I will attach a few pics of the trees and the root systems before I planted them. The branched tree is Ayers and the other is Sweet Advent. View attachment 77549View attachment 77550View attachment 77551View attachment 77552
Pears are hard to get good roots on them when they are dug. Alot of time they seem to overcome the root loss and survive. The bottom tree just above the white paint has a dead spot in the bark though, I am guessing that tree will not make it.
 
Yeah I probably should of pruned the ayers back some before planting. That's the only tree I didnt cut back for some reason lol But I emailed Ryan a couple days ago. Still waiting to here back from him. I have nothing else to lose at this point besides give them a few more weeks. I would think the cambium layer being green on both of them is a good sign though?
 
Yeah I probably should of pruned the ayers back some before planting. That's the only tree I didnt cut back for some reason lol But I emailed Ryan a couple days ago. Still waiting to here back from him. I have nothing else to lose at this point besides give them a few more weeks. I would think the cambium layer being green on both of them is a good sign though?
Green is good. Most nurseries end up cutting off some roots when digging them out. It's kind of unavoidable many times. As someone above said, pruning back the top to more or less match the roots is usually recommended by most nurseries. Transplanting trees or even bedding plants is a shock to the plant, so I'd give them plenty of time to wake up. JMO.

Of all the SLN trees our camp has planted, the roots looked like small carrots - nothing to rave about - we thought. But that's the nature of Antonovka roots ..... carrot-like ..... at least at first. Those SLN trees are now some of our biggest & best trees. Don't be scared off by less-than-huge root systems.
 
I'd give them a few more weeks. That larger tree appears to have a small amount of new growth showing, so it might be all right.
 
I'd give them a few more weeks. That larger tree appears to have a small amount of new growth showing, so it might be all right.
I thought that at first to. But after looking at another pic I'm pretty sure the green I thought I was seeing Is a weed.
 

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I bought a dozen of the sale pear trees. Only 5 have woke up so far. I'm not worried yet. Trunks look just like yours. Still green.
 
Ryan emailed me back today and this is what he said:

Hi Tyler, they are probably putting down more roots before they push. There is a lot of growing season left. If it gets to July and is not growing, write back to me, and I will refund you for the trees. However, I believe you will see them push as the weather warms up.

Thanks, Ryan
 
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