Agree with Babs. You can also scratch a completely dead tree and still have it appear green under the bark. It takes a long time for all that tissue to lose fluids and dry fully. Sometimes many months to even a year or more. And some trees/shrubs never have greenish cambium no matter how vigorously they may be growing.

By now the crabs in your area should show their buds swelling (they are here). Is that happening?

tj

It is still not happening here, and I wouldn’t expect it in Maine quite yet either.

If it's brown, it's dead. If green, it still might be dead (just doesn't know it yet).

Hi all: So I worked my way down the tree cutting off branches and there was no green; buds were brittle, not soft. So the body of the tree is dead with some slight green on the trunk base. I assume this crabapple (Royal Raindrops) is grafted so if by chance I saw sprouts from the trunk it wouldn't matter. What I think happened was I moved it before it was completely dormant in the fall. Not best practice but I had no choice but to move it. Thoughts?

So it died and I replaced it. Will not move it during the first freeze again...yes stupid !

Put the dead stump in the gave yard just in case and look what I see......not sure if raindrops is grafted but purple growth is growing

It’s just a three foot stump

It’s just a three foot stump without a head