HelpfulGardener.com

Hi,

We planted a Blackgold Cherry about 3 weeks ago (it was potted). Two of the limbs look great but the rest have shriveled up leaves. Not sure if that's okay? There are a few photos below.

My questions are:

1. Watering. I've read a thousand different things. I'm in New York on Long Island. Can I just run a drip line to it or a hose at the base? How often would I do that?

2. Fertilizing. How much and when? The soil isn't great, kind of rocky and clayish but we have lots of trees that grow great. I also compost so I have good soil I can mix in if that's a good idea.

Thank you!

The method I always follow is to dig a shallow hole (no deeper than rootball*) that is twice the diameter of the rootball. Then fill with native soil — most recent instructions say to add nothing — I add maybe 1/4 to 1/3 home made compost or good organic soil conditioner with myco’s.

*I usually dig a little deeper and line the bottom of the hole with upside-down sod peeled up from where the hole was dug.

These two additions seed the hole area with earthworms — in the sod and compost.

After back filling, I make a mounded donut ring/dam — my subsoil is clay so I sometimes plant on a mound and leave a moat.

Fill to top of dam/moat with mulch, not allowing mulch to touch trunk.

The basic rule I have followed and this seems to work — water once a day (fill dam/moat, allow to soak in, fill again — move mulch aside and check) for 3 days, once every three days for a week, once a week for a month, then once a month as needed for the first season.

The shrivelling of those leaves could be from a number of causes.
Over or under watering a young tree can affect it this way...the affected area will recover.

Canker .....check for any sign of a lesion just below the affected area.

Fungi related to Brown Rot can also produce this effect. Here Sprays of a Mildew protectant can give some help occasionally.
If there’s no sign of improvement in a few weeks...then I would remove the infected wood and grow on the sound branches.

Thank you both so much! I will try to follow those watering guidelines...of course, since I wrote that post it has not stopped raining in New York!