Almond tree not growing

[Filbert]

I was given a bare root almond tree last November. I put it in a large pot in the unheated greenhouse over winter and planted out in the garden in the spring. It has not produced any leaves.

The branches have not died back and still appear to be alive but without leaves it cannot survive. I tried pruning it lightly back to buds thinking this might kick start it but no joy. Is there a way to get it to burst into life?

[FB.]

Maybe it still thinks it's autumn 2014 and is waiting for winter.
Once a tree goes dormant it requires a certain amount of time below a certain temperature, and sometimes after that it requires a certain amount of time above a certain temperasture before it will start growing again (times and temperatures vary with different varieties).

A very quick search suggests almonds prefer a minimum of 300 hours (cumulative) below 7'C and ideally 600 hours.

Alternatively, maybe it is dead. November is very early in the bare-root season so it's possible your tree was a leftover from the previous season (November 2013) and had dried out and died.

[Filbert]

There still appears to be green in the branches and not brittle but how long can it remain dormant for?
There is still a while until autumn!

[FB.]

There still appears to be green in the branches and not brittle but how long can it remain dormant for?
There is still a while until autumn!

Assuming it's still alive and gets the correct amount of winter chill it wouldn't surprise me if doesn't come to life until next year.
Just make sure its soil is neither too dry nor too wet. I wouldn't prune it any further, nor disturb the roots.

Can you take a few pictures of its twigs, to see if there are any clues about what it might or might not do, or whether maybe it is dead - or soon will be.
Also a picture of the graft from both sides, just in case there's a sap-flow problem there due to damage or disease.

[Filbert]

So fast forward a couple of years and I have a happy tree, labelled as Almond but fruits look very like peaches. How can I tell the difference?

[Baldy]

Nutty flavour or not?

I'm only jealous as my £5 almond never got going...

[Zelenina]

Great to hear thet it eventually thrived, Filbert. They look alike when they're immature, but almond fruits don't get soft and juicy and sweet.

[Filbert]

So the fruits were soft so tasted one and although there was no peachy smell it was sweet. Inside there was the tiniest stone that had already split open. Did not look like an almond to me.

Also for info this is the replacement tree as the original one gave up the following spring.
Still not convinced it is an almond tree though.

[Zelenina]

So the original didn't come back to life. Oh well!

No it doesn't sound like an almond to me. If I remember rightly from the trees where I lived as a child, almonds just have a tough green fuzzy case around the nuts, not a fruit you can eat. Can you post a photo of any of the fruits and stones? Do they have a fuzzy skin?

Peaches can stay small if there are a lot of them on the tree, but the stones are usually quite big relative to the size of the fruit. But possibly there are small-stoned varieties. I know there are some where the stone comes away from the flesh very easily and others where it doesn't (freestone and clingstone).

Or could it be an apricot tree? They have smaller, smoother stones.

[Filbert]

Not having any success uploading my photos.
Today was sunny and the fruit definitely smelled of peaches, so I am 99% sure I have a peach tree not an almond which is a bit disappointing.
So on opening the fruit (peach) the stone in the centre split open. So my question is what would cause that to happen?