Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi there - I bought a victoria plum and a bramley from Lidl tail end of last year. They had to stay in large pots until Feb as we were moving house but have been in the ground since them. The thing is, I have 2 more apple trees - much smaller - and a cherry from a nursery grower that are all blooming and showing leaves but these 2 are doing nothing at all! if I scrape a tiny bit of bark away they are green underneath but no leaves etc....??? Should I be patient or just replace them? I am particularly anxious to get the bramley going and dont want to waste time on this one if its not any good.. Any thoughts please?

Plums can be very slow to show any signs of life, stick with it, if you planted it into the ground this Feb i'd wait a couple more months for signs of life. I almost gave up on mine last year, it did eventually put on a few leaves but this year it looks fab.
As for the bramley I can't help from experience but if it is green underneath then it's alive so again i'd wait a couple more months.

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Peanut aka Joanna

I'd give them time. I bought a cherry tree from Lidl that spent a winter in my garage. I thought I'd killed it but my OH said plant it out and see what happens. I put it in a pot and now have a healthy although small cherry tree with two trunks

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Well established Bramley's should certainly have flowered by now, mine has been in flower for a few weeks. Planting out as late as Feb will almost certainly put your tree back a bit, so wait a while yet. Deacon's Nursery suggest leaving it until 30th June before assuming the worst with new plantings, though this applies more to bare-rooted trees than those grown in pots where the roots will be disturbed less.

Mark

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