It's not uncommon to see nurseries to do that trying to get trees to fill out. Let us take a look at it tho, post a pic.

a 5 gal pot is small for a one inch caliper tree ... are you sure about that ...

prune back could have been done due to winter injury ....

the answer lies in how big the discount was ... what did you pay ??? we have all tried bargain plants.. most live.. if planted properly.. mulched properly.. and watered properly ...

ken

Many bargain plants do not, in fact pan out. One thing that is overlooked is starved plants may have little ability left to establish well on a new site. I am seeing some fertilization of trees and shrubs at a few retail outlets here in recent years but otherwise a clearly persistent notion is to put as little as possible into the plants between the time they are received and sold. A potential purchase can be significantly nutritionally compromised yet still look pretty green. All the material offered with obvious poor leaf color is even worse off.

Potting on? Forget it.

Mal-pruning is a great way to assure that a tree in particular will not make a good specimen later.

"Plant Inspection
Be sure to do this before you accept a delivery of plants
ô¾ Roots: avoid circling, girdling, or kinked roots. Check for burn or freeze damage as well as
death, decay, or disease. Choose plants with symmetrically distributed roots.
ô¾ Shoots: avoid damaged bark, poor pruning (e.g. topping) and disease. Choose plants with
good taper, vigor, and normal growth patterns"

Here is a link that might be useful: Horticultural techniques for successful plant establishment

Imopssible to predict with info given. Likely a bad purchase, but pix would help do something more than WAG.

Dan

Thanks for the replies. A picture, as requested:

Here is a link that might be useful: lacebark elm

To answer one question, they rang it up for $40.

lo-res pic still reveals for whatever reason stake still on, and nice bend near ground, in addition to old-school heading cuts. Hopefully the nursery isn't so old school wrt warranties on their products, as that tree will likely suffer for years.

Dan

Here's a better version of the photo.

Looks like I may need to relocate this one to somewhere less prominent and scrape together money to buy something better.

And sounds like I should remove the stake.

Many thanks for the comments and any further ones are appreciated too.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:379931}}

aw come on ...

its alive.. WHAT MORE DO YOU EXPECT FROM A TREE YOU JUST PLANTED ...

$40 bucks is about right ....

in a year or two.. you will be limbing it up.. and get rid of every single one of those branches.. who cares what they look like now .. they have leaves.. they are feeding the plant ... it is growing roots .... pshaw ...

now.. that tree in a 5 gal pot.. did you take the time to unwind or cut heavily circling roots... i dont recall if mentioned above ...

if not.. dig it back up in late fall and plant it the right way ... and in the right spot subject to what is next ...

now.. i dont like elms... and i ask the rest of you.. that close to the house .. is that a good place for THAT elm ....

the carp elms in my 'hood' are all the Chinese elms that shed branches when the neighbors sneeze .... SHOULD SHE MOVE IT AWAY FROM THE HOUSE FOR THAT REASON???

i suspect.. that most of us gardeners.. have paid more.. for a better bargain.. for stock looking worse than that.. and with our help.. i suspect you are at a 95% success rate with most trees ... JUST DONT DROWN IT OR FERT IT ...

on some level .. ignore the nattering nay-bobs ... as helpful as they usually are ... i think they are just jealous here .. lol ...

could it be better .. yes
was it a bargain .. yes ...
was it a waste of money .. not really if you like it ...
will it live and make you happy.. probably ...

quit worrying about it ... if nothing else.. its a $40 lesson ... been there.. done that ...

how about a $100 hosta that died a week later.. talk about regrets ....

ken

Similar situation as original poster. I live in northern Utah (Cache County). Two and a half years ago I was at an autumn sale at a tree farm here. I was looking at two different Black Hills spruces. One was perfectly sheared and looked like a beautiful Christmas tree. The other one was yellow--looking more chlorotic than dying. It was not shorn, but had a rangy, wild look to it like it had been dug up out of the South Dakota wild somewhere near Deadwood.

I asked them about these trees. Both were labeled $170. I preferred the wild looking, semi-sickly one. Before I could open my big mouth and tell him so, he told me it was dug two years prior and he needed to get rid of it and that if I would take that one he would get me a deal.

$25 and two-and-a-half years later, the tree has greened up, grown taller and looking great in my front yard.

Was it a gamble? Sure, but I could eat a $25 gamble. Sounds like you can do the same with a $40 elm.