Sultan Medlar

Here in the Piedmont region of southern Virginia we have lots of hot weather right now. I received this tree bareroot in April. I planted it in a pot with top shelf planting mix. I will transfer it to the ground this fall. I have found that this tree does not like full all day sun here. It tolerated it but did much better with afternoon shade. In fact, if you have issues with abnormal leaf growth or slow growth it needs some shade. Once I moved mine into a spot where he gets late day shade it began to leaf out more and fill in despite the fact it’s so hot. I’m glad I had to wait to plant this tree since I will make sure that it has a spot similar to where it sits now. It’s been my experience that most plants enjoy a break from the beating sun here even if they are drought tolerant and hardy.

The tree that arrived was surprisingly large and really nicely packed. The graft looked well-established. But here in early June, it's really struggling, though I've been really careful to keep the soil plenty moist around it. It's leafing out like a Dr. Seuss tree - with little tufts of leaves at the ends of a few branches. I'm not encouraged. My experience with any bareroot tree I've received has not been good, even the ones I've planted immediately into pots in good soilless medium. I'd love it if you'd offer your complete line in containers. Even small trees in deep treepots would likely do better in the long run than bareroot trees. At least for long-distance shipping.

The medlar came healthy and very well branched and pruned. There are leave buds already present so hopefully it will have some great growth and establishment this year.