how long do newly planted dormant baby trees take to wake up and show signs of life?

Hi, I had planted 50 hazelnut trees here in Las Vegas, NV a week and a half ago. One of the 50 trees is showing signs of life and little leaves coming out but the rest still just look like sticks. How long does it take for them to start growing leaves? Why is only one doing it and the rest aren't?

Hey Margaret,

Things are probably quite different in your hot/dry climate than around here (VT), but if your little baby seedlings have good water and nutritious soil, it may take them a little longer to sprout leaves.

They will need to establish enough roots to draw water up and open the buds to form leaves, especially of the tiny roots were damaged during replanting. What have you done to amend the soil around them ? Any fertilizer or lime mixed in? I've used an organic fertilizer called Neptune's Harvest (probably made from fish guts -- linked here: http://www.neptunesharvest.com/), and we've used a pelletized lime that we mixed with topsoil and compost to make a sort of tree nursery mix for our fruit and nut trees. We've had ~100% success with transplanting 2' tall plants, though some seemed weakened for the first few months by root damage during transplantation. For bare root trees and smaller slips, most have done well. Then again, we're in a much different climate with OK soils, though very rocky.

Be sure they have enough moisture - the soil will need to be soaking wet at first, then when you do water them, make sure they get a good soak.

We just put in ~50 native Blueberry slips -- planted directly into good rich soil in fallow raised beds without all the amendments -- so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will grow, just like you.

Good luck with your treasured little trees!

Welcome to Permies Margaret ! I have two hazelnuts. Planted side by side. One is budding out and the other is not. Might just take some more time. And you may loose some of the 50. The roots may still be alive and might send up new shoots so be patient.
Watch out adding lime in the western states ! May already have a high PH so you won't need that.

I have same problem - waiting impatiently for my trees to show any signs of growth. Last week of April I have planted over 70 trees - elaeagnus, gleditsia, dogwood, acacia, mirabelle plum and sloe - only the latter started to show signs of life and have first leaves. It is raining here, so I'm not watering trees, the soil is very poor though (sand). I have chosen very tough plants, I hope they will make it, probably I just need to be patient.

Miles,

Thanks for the information! I haven't spent a lot of time out West, and all of that was before I took up Permaculture, so I didn't think much about the soils. Now that you mention it, there do seen to be a lot of places with limestone pretty close to the surface.

We planted 4 Hazelberts from Elmore Roots* about 5 years ago, from nursery plants about 2' tall, and all of them have survived and started producing nuts in the second year after we planted them. One is quite a lot smaller than the rest, so it will get some TLC. The others have sent up many additional shoots, so we are starting to get some clumping. The 4 original plants are placed about 10' apart, so we're still a ways off of a hazel-hedge. We don't cover them to keep critters away, so it's fun trying to wait until they ripen a bit -- and still get them before the squirrels and blue jays eat them all!

* Elmore Roots is a Permaculture nursery in Northern VT that specialized in cold-climate fruit & nut trees: http://www.elmoreroots.com/ They do not sell on-line or ship plants -- you have to go get 'em.

No problem Brad, I have lived all of my life in the west and growing up I always read gardening books that talked about adding lime. It wasn't until I took my master gardener coarse that I found out that lime was added to raise the PH of acid soils and those books were written in the east where it is a common thing to do. Sort of a pet peeve of mine I guess. I think a lot of western gardeners have added things they didn't need to add.

Thanks for all the replies....Yes, I am sure I have to be patient. The one hazelnut tree is getting more and more leaves...I am excited about that. I really hope they do well here in Las Vegas...just gotta keep watering them..probably every day in the hot summer...my dirt is also sandy but i haven't added anything to it.

Hey Margaret,

Is the sun too intense for them out there? I'm wondering if they would benefit from some dappled shade or filtered light while getting established (?)

We don't have the intense sunlight you do, so I ask so that I might learn something. When we transplant tender little things, especially if started indoors or in a greenhouse, we often protect them for 1-2 weeks under Remay, or use translucent plastic on little hoops to let them harden up to wind and bright sunlight. Remay breathes, but the plastic does not, so we only use it for shade, leaving lots of space around the sides for air circulation -- no need to cook the little things!

Hey Brad, Well luckily for me they have been in the ground for a couple of weeks now and we had a few below temperature cloudy weeks...after i planted them so that i think was good. I have them along a chain link fence and it is pretty long....i don't think i can provide shade for all 50 it is just too hard and i am on a tight budget....we just started to warm up to 100 degrees the past few days and they seem to be ok. the leaves on the one that has them seem bright and green ..no signs of stress so far...i think i will just keep them watered and cross my fingers. the roots were really huge when i planted them so they have big roots which i think will help and my theory is if i keep them watered and the ground moist as much as i can then maybe they will keep cool....kind of like a swamp cooling effect. I have notice myself that if i get wet and am in the hot dry heat i feel cool....you can almost get chilled actually!!! because the air is dry so a bit of water really cools a person down...so i am thinking if i keep them watered they would also feel cool...at least i hope...and i can afford to water them everyday because i use grey water from my washing machine..with four kids i have plenty of laundry on a daily basis...

I think Hazelnuts have a high chill hour requirement so they might not bear a lot.
You can try almonds (garden prince) apricot nut(stark bros), yellowhorn, chilean nut, etc

If for some reason they dont catch. Try getting them express airmail to you in January or even better not as bare root but as potted (ediblelandscaping.com for me on the east coast)

My hazelnuts are Arbor day which is combination of beaked, European and american hazelnuts. Beaked and european don't require high chill hours and it does get really cold in Vegas from Nov-Feb. so I think there are enough chill hours...perhaps not for a large crop but for at least a small one anyway...

Go ahead and give these try too.

PISTACHIOS grow very well here in the desert. If you enjoy eating them, you will need to plant a male (Peters) and a female (Kernan) in order to get fruit. The male will not fruit, but it’s pollin is vita