[FCG]

I purchased a pear tree back in march and popped in straight into the ground. It was budding before i planted and the buds opened into leaves. However the buds have now dried out (i've kept it well watered). It's my second pear tree in the same spot as the first died because of lack of watering.

Now i'm thinking it could be because of something else. What could it be? Also is this one on the way out and if so what can i do?

I've looked over the net but found no answers.

[oldbean]

It could be a disease that gets in via the roots. I heard it happens that once a tree dies in a place, it is difficult to establish a similar tree for some time. It may be a fungus that was naturally decomposing the old roots, and it is still there and thinks it has work still to do, but it doesn't know it's new roots.

[FCG]

Dammn!

Should i move the tree or is it too late?

[mumofstig]

Maybe just the hot weather......give it a chance before you throw it out.
Scrape the bark back a little on a twig if it's still green underneath then the tree is still alive!

[DavidT]

Overwatering is just as bad as underwatering and will produce the same symptoms ( and  outcome ). Just keep the soil moist, not wet.

[oldbean]

If you have to replace again, see if you can get a bag of British made charcoal, break it up small and mix it with surrounding soil.

Don't add any compost, food etc. (Did you add any for the tree you planted?).

This will entirely remove watering problems.

At the moment I have a volunteer ash tree, growing in a bucket in charcoal alone, and the roots are covered with water. No problem. I have done this with other plants as well, again no problem.

[FCG]

I added quite a bit of well rotted compost. Could this be a problem? I scratched the tree while i was there and it is still green under the bark.

I'm tempted to say overwatering is the cause DavidT, i've been preocupied with watering it seeing how the last one died. I'll give it two weeks and then if no change i'll follow your instructions oldbean.

[oldbean]

The difficulty is I know next to nothing about growing things, but when I leave them alone and watch, they do quite nicely. The problem with adding compost is that the roots then do not have to work hard. If you just tease the roots out (if you have to) and fill with soil then the roots have to work to get nutrients, and consequently grow more. Perhaps you could water away from the tree with comfrey or seaweed liquid feed, and of course keep a weed/plant free area round the tree of around 2m dia.

The  younger the tree you plant the better. So if it's 1 year old it will out perform a 5 year old in a container.

You could try something different. I stuck some lavender shoots in sharp sand hoping to get them to root. I supported the bags I put over the pots using short lengths of prunings from the apple trees. Some of these have leaves on, and may well grow roots too. These will grow true to type trees, totally out of control as they are not on a defined growth root stock. That's no bother to me, as when they get too big, I can coppice them, and the regrowth will be true to type.

If I get some fruit then I will probably get too much anyway, so I don't need an ultra efficient producer. It's a nice game to play, and I will learn something.