we thought maybe peach tree was dead but were holding out hope that the appearance of a few leaves meant the core tree was still alive.

a fruit tree expert recommended i do scratch test to see if it was really alive. what’s the scratch test ( i didn’t know either )? you scratch a bit of the bark and look for greenish hued living tissue that is the vascular cambium. dry, brittle, and brown cambium means the tree is dead.

unfortunately, i don’t see any green.

any thoughts from the arborists in the audience? am i doing the scratch test correctly?