Ninaco:

Perhaps the sawdust was damp, but at some point between the time your tree was dug and the time it went on clearance sale the roots may have been allowed to dry out. If that happened even once, the roots of the tree may be unable to function.

I am a little surprised that Asian pear trees are on local sale in Tucson, since I was under the impression they require some considerable chilling hours to bloom, and you don't get many of those in your location.

There is nothing to do but wait. Perhaps a miracle will happen, but the situation does not look good. Healthy bareroot trees normally show signs of life in 6 weeks or less, unless they are persimmons.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I've had a bunch of the on sale leftover bare roots that didn't make it. But as long as you've got green you should wait for it to grow. Also, most of the ones I had that didn't live...did eventually send up a sucker from below the graft. I'm keeping those growing and next year I'll graft onto the suckers. BTW, the trees that weren't making it had branches that didn't look right, they had shrivel lines along their lengths.

I'd guess that leaving it in the hot sun all day might not be the best thing for it. With no leaves it probably doesn't need much sun, and a partially shady spot might be more amenable to it growing.

Surprisingly, we have a fair number of chill hours here in Tucson and the Asian pear was well within range. The weather is not hot yet and the porch has shade half the day.

I am now thinking that the roots probably died out. I think the green on the stems, under the buds, had me fooled.