[2022] I got small wood!

Originally posted by Ragequit Inc.: I'd guess that the chunk the trees are in needs to be loaded for them to grow. So if they're far from your base (and you don't go there often), they haven't been loaded, hence not grown. I'm not 100% on this though, just a guess.

I don't think so. I've gone out on multi-day trips, and come back to my base to find my grove of planted trees has grown. I'm pretty sure that when you come back, it loads in the chunk, and the chunk calculates how much growth should've happened in the intervening time. In theory, the player can't tell that they weren't actively growing the whole time.

Unfortunately, I don't have a different explanation for why the OP's trees didn't grow for 5 days, unless they're playing a modded game.