dying trees need help

[sld1390]

I recently transplanted 4 small maple trees. scattered all over my yard. within the first 5-6 days 3 are leafless and the 4th which was the biggest seems to be losing some also. I planted in big enough holes and added fertilizer and watered regular. confused and baffled at what to do to bring them back to life. any ideas or too late?

[bullthistle]

You may have to start all over again. It could be it was too hot when you dug them up or you disrturbed the roots while you were digging them up. Transplanting stresses all plants but doing it at the wrong time or taking shotcuts, not nessarily intentional, plants my succumb to the shock. Transplanting should be done during the winter or when plants lose their leaves although I have transplanted azaleas in the summer but during raining seasons in order for the transplants to be successful.

[sld1390]

I planted them beginning of may, still plenty early and plenty of growing time. all trees go through "shock" when moved, I'm just wondering if there was any thing to add to soil to bring them back. or.... they may come back next spring rather than pull them out of ground.

[cynthia_h]

The fertilizer might be a clue. Generally speaking (but my only direct experience is with roses), it's better to wait until a plant has re-established itself before fertilizing; otherwise, the top may outgrow the capacity of the roots to support it.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[bullthistle]

May have been too late if you are a novice. When you transplant add bone meal not fertilizer at least until the first year has past because you want to induce root growth versus top growth.

[applestar]

I have to agree with all of the above. It depends on what part of Pa. but for me in South Jersey, mid-March~early April would be the time to plant bare root or transplant dug up woody shrubs and trees.

If professionally dug and wrapped, B&B trees could still go in up to early-May IF we didn't have the freak heat wave like we've had last two years.

Potted trees can be planted almost any time, but I avoid planting during drought for obvious reasons.

Most planting instructions in recent years have been revised to say Don't add fertilizer, manure or raw compost in the planting hole and Don't amend native soil.

But let's see if we can help save the remaining tree.

Make sure you are watering DEEPLY. Did you make a 2" depression around the tree -- a basin to collect water? If you did, fill the basin with 1" of water, let that soak in, then fill again, let soak in, then fill one more time. That should be enough for 3 days. In my case, with clay soil, I often have to plant on a mound, so I dig a swale (crescent shaped moat) on upslope side of the tree and fill that with water.

Normally, I follow the "water every day for 3 days, then every 3 days for a week, then once a week for a month. After that, let Mother Nature take over" rule and don't water unless we're experiencing extreme dought ( like now) .

Hope that helps.

[bullthistle]

When I went to school they didn't have this "new wave" of planting plants so for people to say do not amend the soil when planting probably came from a lazy cheap person. I have always amended my plantings with compost or mostly manure because when the roots start growing you want them growing in optimum soil conditions. I have landscpaed for decades and always amended the soil and never lost one plant unless the owner didn't water or drowned the plants. And I always threw in a handful of bone meal. With this clay soil in NC nothing would grow if I didn't amend the soil, trust me.

[cynthia_h]

...for people to say do not amend the soil when planting probably came from a lazy cheap person.

"Fertilizer" ≠ "soil amendment"

And "frugal" ≠ "cheap." Most of us here are neither "lazy" nor "cheap." Broke and frugal, maybe, and looking for maximum return on our input of energy, but "cheap" is a state of mind, not a state of one's wallet.

Now as to what at least one of these terms is vs. what it is not.

"Fertilizer" as a term, used by most people, does not refer to compost. "Fertilizer" usually refers to high-NPK, quick-release, non-soil amendment products. I say "non-soil amendment products" because the granular, powdered, concentrated, etc. fertilizers I see for sale on the shelves of Big Box and his Little Brothers do absolutely nothing to improve water retention/drainage, open pore spaces/hold sands together, or improve other physical conditions in native soils.

I've had my hands Florida sand--my father grew vegetables (and Bermuda grass ) in it, and both of my grandmothers and not a few aunts & uncles grew fruit trees, flowers, and respectable amounts of food in it.

I've had my hands in red Georgia clay--my first attempts at independent gardening, while I was in college, were in Atlanta. Unfortunately, the combination of going to college + working my way through college at the same time (one was always 100% and the other 75%) made composting and other activities impossible, since the Internet wasn't available. The extra trips to the library and book stores, as well as $ for books, would have taken time which simply wasn't in the schedule. So I had to deal with the clay as I found it, which was difficult.

And I've had lots of experience with California adobe clay, which makes Georgia red clay look positively cooperative. Downright depressing, it can be. Fortunately, I had read up on composting, and had access to a city-supported discount BioStack bin (the one I still use) and the Sunset Western Garden Book when I began gardening in California. Compost, even when all of my browns were shredded newspaper, paper bags, and the like, made a big difference in the behavior of California adobe clay.

Take-home message for everyone: Please read posts carefully, both to confirm what has been said and to ensure that you have not read things into them that are not there.

Cynthia H.
/mod hat in gear/

[applestar]

This isn't the ideal, but [url=https://columbustelegram.com/news/local/article_906da89c-5397-11df-beae-001cc4c002e0.html]this article[/url] explains the revision in planting instructions re:amending native soil, etc. that I have observed as a trend. I'm sure there are university studies and whatnot, but I'm too sleepy now to go looking for them:

don't amend the hole with organic matter when planting a tree. Use the soil removed from the hole to backfill around the roots. If soil in the planting hole is the same texture as surrounding soil, roots are more likely to grow out of the planting hole.
Amending the soil in the planting hole encourages roots to grow in a circling pattern inside of the hole. Even if many roots do grow into surrounding soil, the circling roots can eventually girdle other roots or the trunk, leading to tree decline, dieback or trees toppling in the wind.

[JONA878]

This isn't the ideal, but [url=https://columbustelegram.com/news/local/article_906da89c-5397-11df-beae-001cc4c002e0.html]this article[/url] explains the revision in planting instructions re:amending native soil, etc. that I have observed as a trend. I'm sure there are university studies and whatnot, but I'm too sleepy now to go looking for them:

don't amend the hole with organic matter when planting a tree. Use the soil removed from the hole to backfill around the roots. If soil in the planting hole is the same texture as surrounding soil, roots are more likely to grow out of the planting hole.
Amending the soil in the planting hole encourages roots to grow in a circling pattern inside of the hole. Even if many roots do grow into surrounding soil, the circling roots can eventually girdle other roots or the trunk, leading to tree decline, dieback or trees toppling in the wind.

As so often in nature Star. Over kindness can often be fatal.
Plants have over the millenium adapted to cope with most of what nature can throw at them.
We sometimes try too hard to give them the best and finish up reducing their capacity to cope.
A plant that has to struggle a little in its early years, especially those that live for decades, usually make the strongest in the end.

A trees roots that have to grow far and wide to pick up nutrients and water will in the end give the greater stability and back-up to the tree itself.
We have found that in the orchard situation we are our own worst enemy to some extent.
To give our trees the best start we can we irrigate freely in their early years.
Fine. but ..the trees then don't bother to produce major root structures as all they require is put in front of them.
Result...they need staking all their lives and constant feeding and watering.
If you are prepared to give them the attention , fine.. If not, don't be over protective from the start.