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Help with new northern bayberrys

14 years ago

I'd like some help deciding what to do with 5 northern bayberry's I planted. They were bare root plants and put in the ground about a month ago. There has been zero growth on them. I don't want to dig them up if they are just taking their time, but it seems unusual that there has been no growth. Is that normal? Thanks for the assistance!

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Comments (3)

lycopus
14 years ago
As long as the leaves aren't turning brown they are probably fine. They would probably benefit from frequent watering their first year though.
kaliaman
14 years ago
lots is going on underground, roots are growing and getting used to being where they are. and yes, do keep them well watered till established.
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If you only have a female you'll never get fruit. Frankly, from a visual standpoint I am underwhelmed by the fruit. The shrubs are also not evergreen where I live, ten miles north of Boston and right on the very coast. They survive the winter and manage just fine in the dunes along the ocean, or in the rocky cliffs above it, but I don't know that I'd plant it if I lived in Minnesota, not unless I planned to harvest fruit and had planted males to make fruiting possible. The odor of the fruit is to die for, but the appearance of the fruit and the plant have always left me less than impressed (despite my fierce adoration for bayberry candles!)
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Dzitmoidonc
14 years ago
If it is slow this year, it may also be slow next year, but then it will shoot up. My biggest plant almost got mowed over because it languished for the first 2 years. I have a low tolerance for languishing plants. By languished, I mean that while the others grew a foot and made a dozen small offsets, this one stayed about 6 inches and produced not a single offset. Today, the others are nice clumps, and the languishing one is about 3 ft. tall and this year (5 yr. old) it made a forest of offsets. I just wish I had a male. What are the odds you plant 4 plants and they are all females.

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