How long can bare rooted trees survive before planting?

[Windy-Sindy]

Hi

My neighbour was given a bare rooted victoria plum tree for Christmas 2008 and never planted it.

I nabbed it from her garage yesterday and put the roots in a bucket of water overnight.

Is it still a viable tree or is it a dead stick?

Thanks for any advice.

[Glutton4...]

Get a sharp knife, and cut into the bark. If there's any green at all, it may be OK. If it's brown, it's dead.

After all this time I wouldn't hold out much hope!

[Capsid]

If it hasn't leafed up through 2009, then it's a dead stick.

[rustylady]

You'll be lucky!! Please let us know how you get on.

[FB.]

Almost certainly dead.

[Windy-Sindy]

Thanks for suggestions. And thanks for not laughing!

The tree is dead as a dodo. No green under the bark at all

Oh well. Worth a punt. I have a gap in the front garden where the eucalyptus was killed in a gale. The gap needs filling!

I have seen a pot grown Czar plum on St Julien A rootstock. Would it be wrong to try to plant it at this time of year? I need a new tree!

[Windy-Sindy]

^^^scrub that. I have just read how small almond trees can be. This needs a lot more though.

How cool would almonds be?!

[Jax]

How long would they survive for then? Obviously, a few years is too long but how long is reasonable???

Sorry to hijack the thread quickly but thought it would be useful info and related to the thread

[FB.]

How long would they survive for then? Obviously, a few years is too long but how long is reasonable???

Sorry to hijack the thread quickly but thought it would be useful info and related to the thread

The sooner you plant, the better the chances of survival.
Bare-root dormant trees can usually survive for several weeks or more, although the longer they're out of the ground and the drier the roots get while in storage, the exponentially greater the risk of serious damage or death (but the roots only need to be surrounded by damp straw or compost; if they're too wet, they will rot).

But once the weather warms up and they leaf-out, they need water to keep the leaves alive.
Once they start to leaf-out, their water consumption and transpiration demands a lot from the roots and they may only survive several days.