I planted my first peach tree in late March this year. By mid-May it had not leafed out, the upper branches appeared dead, and I thought I lost it. Then, one bud finally opened lower on the stem. I have been continuing to water it and that bud is growing – see pic. Do you think the tree can still survive and thrive at this point, or is it not worth investing in it? I planted a second one in May (when I thought this one was done for) and that one is thriving.
Ive seen less on a chip bud…that turned out to be a beast. Give the roots time to develop and keep doing what u are doing… and be patient… shes alive and will thrive i think.
I got a free bare-root Elberta in early May at Arbor Day event in late April. The tree had a nice branch-out structure. Unfortunately, the roots must have been left to dry out for some time before the tree was given away.
I potted it up in a big pot. The top of the tree has dried up. The tree did not leaf out until about 10 days ago on a lower part of the tree, similar to yours. I trimmed off the top that was dried and brown. I let this new growth take over.
Your growing buds will likely be a new structure of this tree if no other buds at a higher position will develop.
Same has happened to me. Mine survived. The one bud will turn into a thick trunk given a year or two. You can train the bud to grow more upright if you want a straighter trunk.
Also, looks like something (deer?) took a bite out of your growing tip.
I don’t know if you got your tree mail order, but sometimes mail order trees have all the buds dead, even though the tree is alive. This appears to be the case with your tree (whether it was mail order or not).
As mentioned, you’ll want to grow a new trunk with the new growth. Prune off the area about an inch above where the green growth is growing, and of course protect your new growth from deer. That is, if that is deer that ate that off. Here deer won’t eat peach leaves, but your mileage may vary.
