There is hope, good luck!!!! I don't know why this darn species is so fickle.

(and I actually killed 4 from arborday last year eek!!)

I bought two bareroot 3'ers on ebay this spring and put them in fabric pots. One leafed out pretty well the beginning of April and the other one's stems stayed green but this past week or so has begun turning brown. Maybe we will both have success with one this year ;)

John

Egads, four of them. :( I hope you have better luck with the eBay trees :), they definitely are a challenge.

I have killed a couple as well. This spring I tried a larger potted transplant from a local nursery figuring it would involve the least amount of shock.

Of course the darned fella blew over lol. Its still ticking though even if the foliage is looking like its ready for fall.

LOL That doesn't sound good. Best of luck with it Toronado, I wonder what it is that makes these so hard to grow? Maybe because there's so much to like about them year round you *really* gotta work for it. lol

does anyone else feel left out.. when a title such as this is used ..???

at least its searchable ... oh wait.. it isnt ...

if your source is arborday ... there is little or nothing left to say as to quality ...

ken

Somebody's J-E-A-L-O-U-S ;)

If it is meant for ME, why does anyone else need to search for it? I search my own username at least once a month just to see what I have posted (and because I am somewhat self absorbed I suppose)

John

LOL Awww Ken, I'm sorry, next time I'll post a thread just to you, maybe ask your artistic advice on painting the lower portion of a tree (white? yellow? polka dotted?) or whether to plant hostas in mass groups or just sprinkled about for effect. ;)

You know I lub ya. :D

"...ask your artistic advice on painting the lower portion of a tree..."

LMBO

do you guys give any thought as to where places like arborday get their sourwood liners from?
This kind of plant is hacked out of the hills of NC and TN by the pickup load. In many cases they are removed from our national forests, perfectly legal. They are wild-collected as bareroot liners and brokered for pennies. Places like arborday mark them up to for example $5 and sell them fully aware that there will be high mortality.
Wouldn't it be better to buy directly from a bonifide nurseryman who starts his own seedlings and sells only established plants? Maybe it is 3 or 4 times what you would pay at arborday, but well worth it.

Nope, didn't have any clue where Arborday got their trees but decided a while ago not to do business with them again. If it weren't for that little sprout on the above sourwood I could say nothing I've received from them has survived, and if this is how they go about "educating" the public on horticulture then it's mighty disappointing.

It was also my one and only order from Arbor day. I do still have a couple red maples that were free still going and 4 of the 6 viburnum dentatum's are going strong. The drought helped eliminate 1 and my dad ran over the other with a lawnmower and it never recovered.

I actually am very fortunate I had so many failures from AD and Nature Hills. I have totally redesigned the layout and have a much more diverse plant make up than I would have had if they had all made it. The live oak, sycamore, and cottonwood from NH were the first trees I planted ever (in June bareroot!) and still give me the most pleasure when I have time to admire them :)

John

How did your sourwood sprout fair this year, GV?

Toro, I know yours blew over a couple times but made it ok?

Mine had several flushes but only grew about 3-4". The second one that turned brown sprouted from that base about a week after my last post above, just like yours, GV. I have both planted now. I hope they survive into the next growing season :)

John

It died over the summer Jon, I tried to keep it moist but not too wet, shaded from direct sun, anything I could think of to give it the best chance but not kill it with kindness, it still left me. boohoo I hope your trees survive and do well (and yay on getting a sprout from the browned one!), post some pics in the Spring of how they look.

I'd like so much to have one, if I see one in a nursery I'll grab it but I probably won't try a mail order one again, I want to be able to make sure it has at least some kind of a root system before purchase. lol

So we still haven't had one successfully live one growing season so far. NOT GOOD! LOL

I'll be sure to keep you updated as to how mine fair next year. I am determined to keep at least one alive until July :D

It's funny how these thing can't be planted successfully, but they are one of the first to colonize a cleared area off the highway. Any pics of a seedling?

Well, GV. Here was my sourwood on June 17th this year. A little after this pic was taken, it actually flowered so I thought it was getting happy in its new home.

The dead grass was from diluted glycosphate sprayed a month or two prior.

And here it is, a month later, on July 28th. It did this literally in a 24 hour span. I noticed the leaves looked a little browner than I remembered on the way out to work one morning. The next morning, it looked like this. We had had good rainfall and/or I had been watering it if it got dry. Really surprised me even though I should have known better.

Holy cow j0n, it just blitzkrieged! I just don't know what it takes to be able to grow a sourwood, I'm afraid to try again after my two failures. Yours looked fine and dandy, and with the grass being so vibrant moisture doesn't appear to be the problem. Stunning what can happen practically overnight, I'm really sorry. :(

Sooner Plant Farm sells them grown in Smart Pots.

I wonder if that would help with a fickle species like this (I have killed three myself over the years).