I received this five foot tall redbud from a reputable online retailer in early-mid June. The retailer insisted that I didn't need to ship the tree via expedited means despite the heat wave in the West. Needless to say, my redbud arrived with completly shriveled leaves which soon fell off. I didn't want to lose faith and hence have housed it on my covered deck ever since. I read that if it has no leaves it should not be placed in the sun. The retailer told me that it MIGHT develop new growth but it would take a couple of weeks. Two months later, my redbud has a three inch sucker near it's base (the kind you would normally remove). I would appreciate anyone's advice on the following: Should I trim the tree back to stimulate further growth? Should I now give it some sun? Should I plant it now in it's fragile state or wait until fall? Daytime temps here in New Mexico are still nearing the high 80's (Zone 6b). Many Thanks.
New growth on Texas White Redbud
I'm not sure about trimming it back--I'd probably leave it alone for now since the sucker sounds like it's the only part of the tree that's showing any life. Unless the tree was grafted--if that's the case then the sprout is the rootstock and not the tree you wanted. I would not put it in the sun--even when it's perfectly healthy redbuds are an understory tree and will appreciate some shade in your hot climate so I'd keep it somewhere fairly shady. And I would definitely not plant it now--summer's not the best time to plant things even if they're healthy to begin with, so if you try to plant a severely stressed plant during hot weather I don't think it would have a very good chance.
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