Help!! My tree (***** willow) i think is dying!?
Question:I planted it about 2 months ago (to specs on depth, soil, etc) and all the branches turned brown....all the way up to the main trunk of the tree. The trunk is still green but everything is brown....any ideas? (oh and yes i watered it two times a day for two week then once a day for another 2 weeks then every other day after)
Answers:
Boy it is tough to kill a willow! You may have actually drown the plant with all that watering. Most Nurseries have a warranty period of one year. I would personally return it in Sept. to give it a chance to recover.
Most trees and shrubs go through transplant shock. I need you to remove any vegetation from the base of the tree to a distance of four foot minimum from the base. Do this manually for now. At approx 3' from the base, in this new bed area, make a trench that is about six to eight inches deep.
Mulch the bed with two or three inches of shreeded hardwood mulch. Put the mulch no closer than 1 foot from the trunk and in the trench just sprinkle the mulch (do not fill it the mulch!).
The trench is where you are going to water from now on. If you did not include a granular fert when planting sprinkle a basic 10-10-10 with mineral in the trench before mulching. By fert and water away from the tree the roots will begin to take and the tree recovers. You need roughly one inch of water per week during the summer season. Pick two convient days per week and water in at 1/2 per application.
A deep watering is better than a daily dose.
If you can manage and afford it I would build my trench, lay my fert, then encompass the tree with a soaker hose in the trench. Leave a connection above ground so you can hook it up to a hose anytime without having the hose on the turf all the time. Sat morning turn it on and let it run for say four hours. Tues night turn it on when you get home and let it run for the same time.
As I said it is tough to kill these babies! It is probably the transplant shock and overwatering. These steps should alieviate the stress and make the roots establish themselves with the fert as an added benefit. If it looks the same in Sept. go back and get a new plant. Follow the same process as above to insure this one survives (cut the water to 1/2 per week in mid Oct to the first heavy frost). Make sure you monitor how much rainfall you have before watering! A steady rainfall means much less watering whereas a deluge from a thunderstorm means little. Put your index finger into the trench. If the soil is dry after a rain storm water away.
Good Luck. I am at gjgjobs@yahoo.com.
Sounds like your killing it with kindness. Willows can take almost unlimited amounts of any type of water, with the exception of the chlorinated municipal type which only turns a few leaf tips brown and hot water. Do you leave your hose in the sun and just turn the water onto the tree not letting it run to let the water cool? You may have "cooked" your tree. RScott
Maybe the tree is in kind of a "shock" Keep watering it like your directed if it doesn't snap out of it I would call the place you bought it...maybe they could help figure it out...Or your ground could be to acidy(is that a word?) for that kind of tree.. depending on the growing zone and area you live!!Good Luck
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