all trees are shipped dormant ...

insert in ground ... ROOTS DOWN .... lol .. at proper depth ..

native soil.. no amendments.. water well .. mulch well ... and it will grow ...

if not.. exercise your warranty in fall.. at proper planting time ...

half the trees in my yard came thru the mail.. EXACTLY as you describe ... the process will be amazing ... if you dont kill it with too much love ... let it NEARLY dry between waterings... insert finger to 2nd knuckle and water when the soil is hot or dry ..

congrats on the first post ... ken

Ok that's great news, i only asked because it looks dead to the untrained eye. The whole top two feet is all wrinkled and dried and i didn't think that would start to grow again.

Wrinkled and dried may be a bad sign. Is the 5 foot twig flexible? Go outside and find a tree or large bush with a branch about as thick as your 5' twig. Bend it several inches. Then find a fallen branch about the same size and do the same thing. The living branch will be flexible and tend to bow fairly evenly along its length. A dead one will not want to flex. It may deform some, but doesn't want to flex. If your new tree is similarly stiff, it may be dead.

You can also scratch a little of the brown bark covering off and see if it is green underneath. If it isn't green, then you probably have a dead tree. Try this on your test subjects first to be sure what you are looking for.

Hope the tree is flexible.