Crab Apple alive! Advice?

Hello there.
I need some advice regarding a bare root crab apple tree that we received as a gift last November (2013). When we received it we were soon to move house so I was unable to get it into the ground for a few weeks. Unfortunately, once I had planted it it appeared to have died as it never came into leaf last spring though I left it in the ground until now.

This year we have bought a hawthorn tree which I was planning to replace the crab apple with however, I have just noticed that the crab apple has some new leaves around the trunk. It appears therefore that it it had not completely perished! It does seem to be an strange time of year for it to be producing leaves though. The only sign of life is on the trunk - the bottom metre or so.

My question is what to do really. Will the main branches of the tree never recover seeing as they did not leaf last season? Is it still likely to be viable at all?

Below are a couple of pictures of the tree as I find it now. Any advice greatly appreciated! Many thanks.
Gareth

 

Rub off the lowest buds below the graft. They will be whatever the rootstock is, not crabapple.

 

Its still alive but I'd not be happy with it growing new leaves at this time of the year, the frost will kill them.
Its alive, but only just, and will likely need some good pruning, come next year, in order to get it to a decent shape, should it survive this winter.
The shoots from the main stem suggest that all growth above is dead, I would guess.
Nick the bark with a knife, if its green underneath its still alive, brown and its dead.

 

I'd say leave it alone, wait to see what it does in spring and summer. Trees are truly inspirational in their survival skills. They will actually sacrifice parts of themselves to keep themselves alive. If they don't have the strength to maintain all parts of the tree, they will divert their resources to the bits that can survive. Your tree may have stopped supplying its limited resources to the upper parts in order to keep the roots alive.

Some trees, growing in the shade of larger trees, will go dormant for years, waiting for something to change such that they get more sunlight. Some will divert all their resources to a branch that has access to sunlight and let the rest perish. Some, for example several types of willow, actually keep themselves going by allowing bits to go brittle, break off, float away down a river or stream, get washed up somewhere else, and then sprout again. Some have evolved to thrive from being nibbled by wildlife. Trees really are brilliant. Give it a chance and see what it does.

 

Thanks very much for the replies!

I will leave it be to see how it recovers along with removing the buds below the graft.

Many thanks.

 

Before doing this, consider a couple of points:

1. The rootstock will be some form of apple, most likely some variety of crab apple, although not the same cultivar as the top half of the tree (above the graft). So if you are not overly bothered about the specific cultivar it might be worth leaving the lower buds for now just in case nothing above the graft has survived.

2. If the tree above the graft has survived, the upper most shoots will get the most priority anyway, ie the tree will not waste energy on the lower buds if the upper ones get away successfully. It will only dedicate all its resources to the lower ones if the upper ones have no chance.

 

I got a nasty feeling all the buds that have broken will be killed.
Consequently the only new shoots next year will be from below ground, ie the rootstock which wont really be worth growing.