Four days is not enough time for almost any plant to come out of dormancy. Keep watered and be patient. The large root system is a plus. Presumably your cotinus was kept in cold storage in order to stay dormant this late in the year, so it's very hard to say how long you will have to wait. Think of it this way though. Four sunny warm days in late March do not cause plants to spring into leaf. Soil temperature, day length, and other factors are involved. For your cotinus, it was the dead of winter until four days ago.

Patience.

Well, plants may even wilt for a few days or weeks from transplant shock before perking back up... It takes some time for disturbed roots to reestablish themselves and "plug" into (reattach to) new soil. And until that happens, the plant will suffer from diminished nutrient absorption.

But a Smoke Tree is a cool choice, though! Glad someone out there is thinking outside the Big Box Store a little!

It could easily take months. I've had bare root trees not leaf out until the end of the summer.

Redbuds have to be "sweated"? I've never even heard of that process, and my Redbud is going to be here in about 6 hours! I guess I'll go Google what that exactly means.

I was all set to plant it this afternoon, if the thunderstorms hold off.

Ilovemytrees; Redbuds and the others need to be sweated only if they are bare root and not showing any swelling of the buds. If your redbud arrives clearly no longer dormant, plant away and forget the sweating. If, on the other hand, it looks as if it's still totally dormant, sweating is a good idea. Google Fedco Trees and you will find a full and easy to follow explanation of how to do it. It's not hard at all. You'll also find lots of good planting information for trees of all kinds, not to mention a huge collection of ultra trees. I have no financial connection to this company. Only great admiration for all they do to preserve antique fruit varieties and old time seeds.

This is intriguing. In all my years gardening and reading about gardening I have never come across the concept of 'sweating' bare root trees. Why do you think that is? Is it only needed in certain climates?

floral_uk I'm not sure there is any biological explanation for why some tree species need this while the majority do not. If there is, I am not aware of it. Trees dug in the fall after all the leaves are gone and prepared for bare root storage first have any soil washed from their roots. Then they are allowed to dry somewhat before being placed into a cold, moist envirornment for the winter. Here they are in complete darkness and just above freezing temperatures for several months. For reasons unknown to me, what seems to happen to some species is that the leaf buds become overly dry and enter a more profound dormancy than they do in other trees. Plant them without the sweating process and they may never leaf out, leaf out only partially, or leaf out too late in the season and never make a good tree. Sweating is just a way of rehydrating the leaf buds just as soaking the roots in pail of water for a short time is a way of rehydrating the roots. A warm humid greenhouse environment sweats trees all by itself. Orchardists and others without greenhouse space do it by laying laying the bare root trees on a sheet of plastic, sometimes in bundles of hundreds of trees, covering with damp straw or other material, a top layer of plastic and leaving for a few days, checking daily for swelling of the leaf buds. When you think about the rigors of bare root storage, it's actually more amazing that the vast majority of trees need no special treatment than the fact that some do.

floral_uk: i think climate may enter into it in that bare root storage may be unnecessary or just not practiced in areas with more mild winters than much of North America. Are apples and other fruit trees in the UK commonly planted as bare root stock by orchardists or is the usual method potted or b and b trees only? My guess would be that most of the bare root stock - not necessarily requiring sweating - sold in the US is for the commercial fruit growers. The rest go to large commercial wholesalers who pot them and resell after some years' growth.

Hi! The tree arrived at 4:30pm today, with buds all over it, already starting to open. It's roots were HUGE. It had a long tap root too. I planted it immediately, as I had a wheelbarrow full of our native soil already next to the already-dug planting hole. I had to dig go back and dig deeper, just to accommodate the tap root.

So, no sweating is needed. I just ordered one more of the Redbuds, from the same Ebay seller.

Update on the Smoke Tree. It is DEAD.

I don't know why I didn't closely inspect the tree before I planted it. It was STUPID, STUPID STUPID not to. In my defense, I relied on the seller's 100% positive feedback and just took the tree out of the box and concentrated heavily on planting it carefully.

Flash forward to today, I took another look at the tree. There was something about it that looked dead to me. I don't know, call it intuition, call it whatever you want. I couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was up. Anyway, I took the fencing down from around the tree, and got on the ground, and low and behold I saw a tiny, albeit DEEP scratch. It was dead underneath. I also did another scratch test and saw the tree was indeed dead.

I don't know what to do about it. The Ebay seller has 100% positive feedback. I have no doubt that they don't want a negative from me. And just for the record, I've been on Ebay for 15 years and have NEVER left a negative.

The seller does clearly state on their page that we must notify them on the day of delivery if there are any problems with the tree. I get why they do that. They have no earthly idea how people take care of their trees once they've been delivered. I feel for Ebay sellers in that regard.

The thing is I KNOW this didnt happen on my watch. I know it! I also know I can't prove it. It just seems, from my perspective, to be unfair they sent me a tree that was DOA.

Should I just suck it up and eat the $17? Or should I contact them and let them know what is going on?

ilovemytrees: I don't wish to be unduly critical, but i do wish you would consider the issues involved in buying plant material on Ebay. Leaving aside the problem of unethical sellers and the very real possibility that you are buying stolen goods, there is the disease and pest question. Much of the plant material sold on Ebay has not been inspected by state agriculture authorities. Every state spends millions conducting onsite inspections and requiring sellers to hold licenses. All this is intended to prevent the spread of potentially lethal diseases and insect infestations across state borders. Ebay sellers have no such requirements and may go so far as to lie about having had state inspections and even produce counterfeit inspection certificates which they attach to their shipping containers. The above is not true of all Ebay sellers, but the consumer has no way of telling the good from the bad. Ebay, of course, washes its hands of any responsibility. Just not worth it to save not all that much money. I would complain about the smoke tree and se what happens. At least the tedbud seems to be ok.

akamaine - I don't really know the ins and outs of the tree trade over here. But many trees are sold bare root. I've had a look at quite a few websites and nobody mentions this sweating thing. We can dig and plant bareroots pretty much all through the winter in most places so maybe the trees never need prolonged storage and never really enter the 'profound' dormancy of which you speak. Do you know if there is another term for 'sweating' which I could Google? I get no UK hits with that expression.

I know of no other term for sweating. Perhaps if you Googled something like "rehydrating tree leaf buds" or "breaking dormancy in bare root trees" you will turn up something. I think you are probably correct that long winter storage is just not needed in the UK so trees do not become as deeply dormant as they would under the winter storage conditions practiced here. A factor besides warmer winter temperatures contributing to the less profound dormancy may also be the generally higher relative humidity in the UK than in much of North America. Googling "tree sweating" here turns up instructions from several universities and large producers of bare root stock. Birch, hawthorne, redbud, oaks and a number of fruits and nuts seem to the most common species for which sweating is advised.

Fascinating. I get lots of hits for 'tree sweating' but not a single one from this side of the pond. Birch, oak and hawthorn are just stick it in the ground trees here. You can dig up or plant any time the ground isn't frozen i.e. all winter bar a few days. These differences are the reason I hang out here and not on UK forums. I learn stuff!

I got a refund from Ebay regarding the Smoke Tree, but not without a lot of drama. The whole experience has soured me from buying not only trees on Ebay, but anything else.

The only reason I even ordered trees on Ebay was because I could get bare root saplings, and pay lower prices, but it sure isn't worth it in the long run, as akamainegrower has pointed out.

I have always tried to get what I wanted at my local nursery, but her stuff is always pot-bound, or as in the case last weekend, ALL of her trees were at least 8 feet tall, and started at $300. I don't want to pay that kind of money, nor do I want to transplant a gigantic tree.

In most states, and NY is surely one of them, you can buy small trees and shrubs from your Extension Service or Soil and Water Conservation organization at very reasonable prices in the spring. There are also many reputable online sources for bareroot and container grown trees in reasonable sizes. Check Garden Watchdog for ratings and comments from customers. There are lots of alternatives other than Ebay when the local nursery is not a good source. Learning to propagate from cuttings and seeds is another, very rewarding, way to have a lot of plants at little cost.

I have a Robinson Crabapple coming from Forest Farm tomorrow, and another Declaration Lilac coming from newgardenplants.com, which is a nursery in Michigan. I am done with Ebay.