I've done the same as you Deano467, just pulled the leaves off, had a few more develop leaf curl after but generally the tree looks a lot better. 5 of the branches didnt grow any leaves whatsoever so assuming they are dead so will have to cut them off, the remaining 2 branches have loads of leaves, no flowers or fruit but i'm happythe tree is alive.

What are people planning for the winter? I'm thinking of bringing mine in around November and storing it in the garage

​hi my Avalon from Sutton's also showed leave curl on some leaves which I just removed rather than treat about a week ago. no more have appeared and tree looks quite healthy now. I think I read somewhere these grow best against a south facing wall sheltered from rain, which is what I have done, as it's in a big pot. I think it looks good now as I had given up hope on it at one stage

About the same time i suppose just going to leave it and see what develops

I got it around 11 May, so probably around the same time when you got yours. My Peche de Vigne has also arrived with quite a few leaves, but has developed quite well surprisingly and has over hundreds of leaves now. The avalon had no leaves when arrived and hasn't any leaves/buds so far either. Many branches have also died back.

I actually saw Morrisons were selling fruit trees just after I made the order from suttons, about 3 months ago. I remember the price was similar, but my garden space is limited, so I hadn't bought any.

danny1 & flying_carpet, when did you get your avalon peach trees?
I think i got mine about 4 weeks after ordering and it arrived with about 12 leaves on, for ages nothing new and the old leaves wilted but then all of a sudden they just grew over night. I must admit it still looks sad and bare but its a slight improvement.
I would say give it about 3 months and see if anything happens.

on a separate note i heard Morrisons were reduce the summer plants including the fruit trees.....i saw several people walking off with apple & pear trees for 99p but alas all i found was an empty box :disappointed:

I assume thats the old bit of stick I've planted with no sign of life

The curl disease looks quite common for peaches. My Peche de Vigne has also got several leaves with the disease out of hundreds, but not very serious, only got some red colours. I just cut them, don't want to apply any chemicals. My Avalon peach still has no sign of life. Have any people got luck with their Avalon peaches apart from Robj1?

Thanks Robj1,i think i might wait until autumn and give the whole tree a spray.
In the meanwhile i might just pull the infected ones off

I would go for Bayer Fungus Fighter, it's not going to fix the leaves already affected, but should stop further leaves being infected.

Unless you have other trees in the peach family, you don't need to worry about the spread to other trees.

You could always wait it out till autumn, then give the tree a really good wash down when leaf free.

Thanks Robj1, is there any particular spray you would recommend? I had a look in B&Q but didnt see anything that would be suitable and its trying to find a needle in a hay stack on google. Would a copper spray be just as good?

I'm really tempted to just throw away the stupid peach tree, only the main shoot has any leaves on it, the other 6 or 7 branches are nothing but thin naked twigs. Theres only 25ish leaves on the whole thing and at least 10 have leaf curl disease, i just cant understand it, the leaves were fine a few weeks ago, small but fine and now it like its blistered overnight. I hope it doesnt affect my other fruit trees :disappointed:

It's a difficult choice this first year, if it were me, I would treat with an antifungal treatment.

I would treat now, again in autumn, and early spring next year.

Antifungal is often not recommended for fruit trees, but as you won't be getting fruit next year, I can't see an issue at all.

My peach is starting to really flourish now, so hopefully yours will be playing catch-up soon!

How are peoples peach trees coming along?
I have some news about mine, not sure if its good or bad. I can finally see some growth, YAY!
There are no new leaves but the leaves that were on before have grown quite a bit, the issue i now have is that they are showing signs of peach curl disease :disappointed:
Not sure what to do, should i remove them or just let them grow this year?
If i remove them then the tree will have little/no leaves left which is probably going to slow down the growth

Any good advice will be welcomed

Damn it! I shouldn't have moved home (_;) I used to live in Northwest (Manchester), but moved to Southeast now.

The soil of my garden is sandy and close to neutral/a bit acid, which is good for most fruit trees, but not acid enough for blueberry. Sulphur chips look promising. Will try it. Thanks a lot for your recommendation.

Ha ha, in the North West - you?

I am very near the coast, and the soil is alkaline by nature, I tried used coffee grounds as well, but found a negative impact on the plants, and soil. I now use sulphur chips to adjust pH. Takes a little while for them to break down in the soil, and make a huge difference to the pH - very cheap too.

Coffee grounds now get composted.

Where do you live? I will go there to pick up your given away fruits. Just joking, of course :grin:

I have also got a blueberry. Last year, it has grown a couple of berries, but this year, nothing and some branches have died back :(. I guess it may need more acid, so I have put some used coffee grounds, but haven't seen any improvement yet.

In a few years time I expected I will have more than I know what to do with. Neighbours fill baskets of fruit and veg and leave them at the end of the driveways for people to take.

It's nice getting a garden with hardly any fruit trees and building it up. It attracts the wildlife too.

My raspberries and blueberries are just coming into season now. If you have limited space, they are always good. Especially the autumn varieties of raspberries as you prune them right to the ground after they finish fruiting then next spring you get at least twice as many plants coming back!

Wow, there would be a lot of fruits in Aug-Oct (_;) . I'd also like to grow more fruit trees, but limited by the size of my garden :(.

Currently around 16-18 fruit trees.

I moved into the house about 3 years ago now and there was just one very old sad looking apple tree - that tree still stands, but has had a major overhaul each year to gradually bring it back in shape!

That makes a lot of sense. How many fruit trees have you got, btw (_;) ?

I do most my pruning during the winter, you can see the tree better then. During the summer only if broken, damaged, rubbing branches or too many water shoots.

I pruned the trees purchased here later than usual due to the time of planting.

I may however keep my cherries and plums pruned June time now after reading more about Silver Leaf! ​

I see. It looks like RSH cannot decide on it either :D. Besides June pruning, do you also prune at other times, say during winter/spring?

​Actually, depends where are their site you look. Depending which article is written first...

Anyway, silver leaf spores are only active September to May, so either way you will be fine pruning this time of year.

​These are my first cherries, but have pruned plum for years without any issue.

Just looked on the RSH website and they say "We no longer recommend painting pruning cuts with wound paints (such as Arbrex), as this too may trap moisture and promote fungal infection."

Thanks again for your advice, Robj1. I have cut all dead back branches and found there aren't much left, so you know how bad the dead back is :disappointed: ! Regarding sealant, I heard some fruit trees, especially cherry and plum, are susceptible to air borne Silver Leaf Fungi Disease after pruning without applying sealant.

​Id prune the lower branches to about 2cm, leaving the upper till you get at least a little green showing.

Don't seal the cuts at all, let nature do its thing. I have never sealed, not even on larger cuts, and never suffered. Ensure the blade is sharp and clean. If you have been cutting 'infected' trees, wash your secateurs in a mild bleach solution before you prune.

Thanks a lot for your recommendations, Robj1. Regarding watering, I have REALLY watered it plenty, every day except heavy rainy days. Regarding pruning, I asked Suttons earlier on, they recommended me to only prune after budding. But no bud has ever come by yet. Should I prune them now or still wait for budding? Also, for pruning, do you recommend to apply sealant, say Arbrex, on the cut?

I sliced the bark on my plum again earlier and it's still nice and green underneath so I'm still assuming it's just taking a break? Absolutely no signs of life on the branches though!

I just checked back and notice a few comments so will update with my 3 trees. The golden delicious has developed 8 apples, as tree is doing really well I'll let them develop. The plum arrived late and didn't flower but has plenty of leaf so should be good next year. I planted the peach in a massive pot in a sunny spot and watered well. This one was really slow to start but glad to say it has really started to come on with plenty of leaf after pruning. As it's getting late in season hopefully next year it will blossom. 3 out of 3 looking good, great bargain so thanks op for posting this deal :grin:

​Keep your Avalon VERY well watered, I ended up taking all lower branches off completely, and reducing the upper ones to the first bud. This stimulated some growth.

I very much doubt your trees will flower this year, and even if they did, and fruit looked viable, it really should be removed.

The only one that may flower is the persimmon. The others are early flowering. You should get some flowers next year.

Congrats on your peaches! My Avalon peach arrived in a similar condition to yours with cut-off roots, but still hasn't shown any life yet: most branches have already died back :(, though most of its trunk is still green. Other trees (Gage, Mirabelle and Persimmon) all grow leaves and look great :D. Do you think they will still be able to flower or even bear fruit this year (I saw you reported that your apple tree has flowered and also bared fruits)? Also, to my surprise, the other peach tree (Peche de Vigne), even though arrived with many leaves already, is doing well (_;). I guess the fact its root was in a much better situation may have helped it.

It doesn't look alive at all, but a few weeks ago I nicked the bark (as suggested above, they said Suttons asked them to do it) and it seemed green underneath. I might do it again later just to see if there is any change.

​There were around 5 apples of small marble size, and several pea sized. All removed. I will leave one maybe 2 next year to sample. In it's third year, I will only thin if 'June drop' leaves a few to many for the plant to handle.

It's very temping to leave fruit on as soon as you see it, but it's more important the tree puts its energy into rooting properly in the first couple of years, without the extra strain of trying to build fruit.

danny1 - Hopefully your peach tree will catch up :smile:
Gareth79 - Seems odd that your plum tree is not doing well, does it look alive?

Robj1 - Yay! One success story at least, mine is still looking thin and sad but my apple tree is actually flowering, no fruit yet. How big were the fruits before you removed it and have you removed all of them?

My peach is doing well now! Very surprised indeed.

Apple started fruiting (fruits removed).

Pear and plum racing to catch up with the season!

Have had to hard prune the pear for shape and a better success rate.

Looking to be a very good buy for me - thanks again OP

It was a Victoria plum. Still nothing although I'm watering it as much as the other tree (ie. lots!). I haven't tried nicking the bark again, although I imagine it's still green underneath.

The pear is still doing well, although the lowermost branches were damaged in the post and I removed them. Hoping they will bud from the stumps next year.

No instead of a refund they dispatched a peach tree, looks a bit sad with shrivelled leaves but have planted see how it goes, my other tree a sharon fruit is looking good plenty of buds and leaves fingers crossed

danny1 does that mean you got a free peach tree from suttons? If so well done, my peach tree is still looking the worse for wear, no new leaves, no buds, nothing.....just 1 sad looking orange twig.

On the other hand my apple tree has finally shown life, the buds have starting opening, i can see the green of the leaves, hopefully by the end of the month i might actually have a leaf

Peach tree arrived today via courier looks sort of ok

Just had email from sutton customer services unable to complete remainder of order peach trees not upto their standard refund via paypal arranged so if anyone still awaiting delivery of trees suggest you contact them

​Mine now looks to have some swollen buds too! Hope yet!

good news, my peach is finally showing signs of life, a couple of tiny leaves have come out of the buds on the main trunk. Hang in there folks these really are slow developers.

Gareth79, your pear tree has a lovely shape, a proper candelabra, hopefully if it continue growing like that the fruit distribution should be nice and even.

What kind of plum tree did you get as my Victoria plum tree arrived as a twig but was the first to show any signs of life.

Robj1 - I'm still not having any luck with my peach tree either :disappointed: Hopefully they are slow starters.
(Apples still a twig too)

Pear is in the foreground and looking good, plum in the background and no signs of life, I have treated both equally.

edit: I just read the post about about scratching the trunk - I did this on the plum and it looks very green right under the surface so fingers crossed it's just sitting and waiting.

Nice buds and leaves developing on the persimmon, not yet received the peach tree might give up on that one after viewing other comments

Apple is starting to flower, will be nice to have some apple blossom in the garden again!

Obviously will remove the flowers as the petals fall to prevent fruiting this year.

Pear is looking strong as is the plum.

Peach was always a lost cause, still absolutely nothing.

My pear tree now has some leaves, yay!
Apple and peach still no joy but I planted these in 50l pots

I've given them a good watering as its very hot today.
I think i defo need to take your advice robj1 and put some other soil/mulch on top as the water seems to take ages to sink in

​When my peach was boxed, they cut it to size, then realised it was still 6 inches to tall. They cut another 6 inches of and threw the offcut into the box (I assume as it was the bit that was labelled).

For some reason, I still have the 6 inch bit. I did the scratch test on both tree and offcut. Both are equally green. The offcut piece has been in full sun left on a garden table.

While the scratch test is a reasonable indicator on several trees and plants, the peach does appear to stay green for some time.

I got this reply from Sutton's about my peach which hasn't done anything...Could you make a small scratch mark with your finger nail on the trunk, if it is still green under the bark then the tree is alive but slow to develop. If it is brown then this would suggest that the tree has died. If you could send a photo that would be great......
I'm sort of pleased to say that I did this and it is green underneath so maybe it is still alive but a slow developer, I'll keep watering. Hope this helps others who have similar issues with the peach.

My pear arrived with dead-ish buds but they are slowly regrowing with green. The plum arrived as a twig and still looks like a twig :thinking:
I have now set up a water butt just uphill and have some drip irrigation things watering it 24/7 (something like 10L/day per tree).

Also North West, unfortunately we have some good weather on the way!

Mulch your plants with a good load of well rotted manure, or a load of garden compost - leave a good few inches from the trunk so you don't cause it to rot. This will slowly leech into the soil and stimulate root growth.

You actually want your plants to 'spring' into life as slowly as possible when planted bare rooted, so they could well be doing their thing under ground.

Do the trees look otherwise well? When you scratch the bark is it nice and green?

Robj1 - I'm based in the northwest of england, not sure if i can dig anything into the ground now as the trees have been planted.

I do have some brown/pink buds on the apple tree but nothing on the pear.
Some of the peach leaves have wilted and turned brown but on 1 branch they are still green.

Has anyone trimmed the tops of the trees off?

​Sounds like you are on clay rather than the soil being compacted. Where are you based?

Take a look closely at the buds on the trees, mine are only just starting to open, but it's a nice positive sign (of course, with the Peach being an exception).

You don't want the roots of any of your trees stood in water. Can you dig in some soil improvers? Manure, gypsum etc...

Robj1 - Thanks for the advice, my soil is quite tightly packed, in fact before i planted my plum tree i emptied a whole watering can into the hole and it was still there about 2 hours later. In the end i had to take some water out and dig a bigger hole so the soil would mix.

The leaves on my peach tree have wilted, they are still there but not so prominent. I don't think anyone has had luck with peach, Deano467 i hope you have some luck with suttons
The apple and pear still look like twigs :disappointed:

Baldieman64 - I'm so glad you mentioned the tree not having roots, i've been water my trees at least 50cm from the trunk.......i'm going to pour the water a bit closer from now on

This cooler wetter weather has been perfect as we didn't want the trees bursting into leaf with no roots to supply water to them and the cool start will have slowed things down. I'm still waiting for clear signs of life from the persimmons but the buds certainly look viable. The next three weeks or so are going to be critical.

Contact them now, make sure they are aware you are unhappy.

They will ask you to wait another 4 or so weeks to see if anything happens and then provide photographic proof the tree hasn't survived. They will then refund (or at least that's is what has happened with my peach).

Glad your other trees appear to be doing well. Don't let the apple fruit this year, you need the development in the roots this year not the fruit.

golden delicious in flower, plum which arrived a few weeks later showing green leaves budding, but Avalon peach doing nothing - all 3 watered equally. how long should I give it before I contact Sutton's and are they likely to refund or replace

Forgot to ask, did the Peach leaves drop or remain on the plant.

The fact it had leaves is a bit concerning as these trees were meant to be in cold store prior to packing for delivery.

Remember when watering, watering deeply once every few days is better than a little each day - this will encourage better root development.

​Water water water!

First week I watered 3 times a day, around a gallon each tree each time. The weather was warm that week.

Since, with the weather more mixed, every other day a gallon or so a tree.

I am on a very free draining sandy soil though.

I cant believe people are still waiting for tree...i really hope they come soon for you.

Only the victoria plum tree is doing well, the rest are not showing any signs of budding. Even the peach tree that arrive with leaves on is now just twigs

How often are people water? I havent put anything extra in as i wanted to wait until they showed some signs of life