Gardening & Landscaping
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
NB
My tree! She's sick!
the damned thing's leaves look wilty and sad. Could we (read my husband) e overwatering to have that effect? i'm suspicious that because the ground at the bottom of the bed, though loosened, is clay, water is pooling and choking the roots. plausable reason?
Re: NB
Yes, plausible; but overwatering a tree planted in the ground is difficult. Most of the time, people overestimate how much they water and underestimate the water needs of the plant. It CAN happen if the ground is primarily clay (as you said) and the hole is deep (as opposed to shallow and wide). The reason is the soil interface: water percolates through clay at an extremely slow rate, and probably moves through the root ball much faster, because it's less clay (more sand/loam).
Without going back and looking at your original post- you had a Kousa Dogwood, and you asked about staking it? There was one thing you said that struck a chord of doom in my mind. You said you planted the root ball slightly below grade, or slightly deeper than it was tall (or something like that). If I remember this correctly, this is something you should never do. You should plant at or above grade. I probably should have said something. If the plant seems to be suffereing, I would go ahead and lift it, and replant it in a shallow, wide hole, and mud it in.
If you need help/instructions I will be happy to talk you through it or provide more info.
How is the plant being watered? Like, with a hose, sprinkler, how? For how long (minutes)? How frequently?
When we planted it, the bed was recently dug by the landscapers who laid our patio (stone) It wasn't very deep (8 inches?) but it was wide. They dug into the clay, added topsoil. i added peat and 2 types of manure and worked it through.
When we dug the hole for the tree, we dug deeper than the rootball, then re-filled it with soil at the bottom (so the rootball wasn't just sitting on clay) then loosened the 2 burlap layers at the top and recovered the rootball with soil The top of the rootball is MAX about 2 inches lower than soil level.
the soil holds water really well and always feels moist to the touch. The lawn around it (the bed is raised slighly) has been downright soggy due to watering and a recent rain. When we water, we usually prop our watering wand and direct the flow to the tree base. until soil is running off.
The leaves are now crunchy.
Crunchy leaves not good.
I would lift the tree at once, bare-root it (removing all the burlap and all the soil), and replant the bare roots at grade and not even one inch below grade. You should SEE the entire trunk all the way down to where the first root comes off of it, and that is where the ground level should be.
If you plant a root ball, it is better to have the bottom of the root ball on hard clay or concrete than to soften the soil in the bottom of the hole. You don't want the plant to sink down at all.
The BEST way to plant is to get rid of the ball entirely and just plant the roots. That way there is NO soil interface, just roots making full contact with soil, and firmly set in the ground without any need for staking.
The other advantage to this is that you can tell immediately and definitively if the roots are too wet or too dry, and adjust your watering technique to correct.
If you can do this, TAKE PICTURES. If I can see the roots I can help you more.
Just keep the roots moist. Don't let them dry out.
i WENT TO THE GARDEN CENTER BEFORE i saw your reply, she seemed to thing the amount of manure in the soil burnt the roots. She told me to, and I have just, brought the soil away from the root ball and filled it in with regular garden soil. As you mentioned, she said to lower the soil height around the base of the tree to just below the top of the burlap ball. She said since it's been in for a week not to disturb the whole thing.
The leaves on it currently will not bounce back but since it was a good specimen to start with I should see new leaf buds in about a month or less. If no buds come, scrath one of the branches and see if it's still alive.
She also said to just water it every 3 days or so giving it a 15 second soak with the hose.
We're leaving in the morning and coming back Monday aftenoon so hopefully this solves it. If not, I'm probably screwed.