Hi, I bought this Chamaecyparis Nootkatensis Pendula (approx. 8 ft. tall) from a local nursery and planted it in my front yard. It’s located in an open, sunny spot. The dirt is dry, however I did wet it when planting it. I mixed in a little bit of bone meal as I was told to do. I thoroughly watered it after planting it and we received heavy rain for about 8-10 days straight so I did not water it during those days. The tree looked fine during these cool days. However, after the rainy days we got about 3-5 days of hot, sunny weather (24-28 degrees celcius). I made sure I watered it during the hot days, then put bark mulch (3-4 inches thick) around the base of the tree (keeping it about 6 inches away from the trunk) to help keep the moisture in—after all, the soil is dry and kinda sandy. A day after doing this, I noticed that some branches / leaves had turned yellow. It’s been about 3 weeks since it was planted and it doesn’t look too healthy to me. Is this because it’s in shock from transplanting it? Or is it the dirt condition? Or am I just paranoid? Will it survive? Please help. I'm a complete rookie so please bear with me if I made some mistakes in planting this tree! Thank you.
cedar flagging is fairly common here in hot dry weather . Make certain to water deeply once or twice a week and not everyday and very shallow. let the tree establish a good root system and it will do well in the long run.
Thank you very much for the tips and advice! I'll follow the suggestions, and see how it goes. Thanks again.
Just wanted to share a similar experience. I bought the same tree in a 3gal tall container in summer 04. It was about 5-6ft. It was clearly rootbound in the pot. The site I had planned for it did not work out and to preserve it, I managed to pot it up to a 7gal. can that fall. Because of the condition of the root ball, that I had to pry apart, I was worried about the tree, but no ill signs until this spring when I saw just a few branches turn like yours have. The are mostly small and on the inside of the tree. I suspected it was lack of moisture during a couple hot days this spring as it is/was very hard to hydrate the rootbound dry rootball. I just planted it out this past weekend and was pleased to find that it had rooted into the 7gal pot and had some good looking roots, although some areas of the rootball were sitll suffering from the ill effects of very poor care. When this plant was in its 3gal can it frequently dried out during the summer I had it and has had a very hard existence, but still it puts out new roots and had hung in there. So I share this to hopefully relieve concern that your plant will bounce back as I hope mine will in its new in-ground home. I suspect the yellowing is likely are result of too little water or lack of an established root system. I am sorry to be leaving this tree behind as we are moving next week, but I could not drag it along to the next place not knowing where it might find a permanent home. Its best chance to survive was to be planted. MJH
Thanks for all your help. I have to admit I didn't pay much attention to the root ball--except the fact that it was burlap and had many (6"-12") thin roots sticking out of it. I did ask the nursery delivery guy (as he helped to plant it) if it was necessary to remove the burlap and he said that it wansn't. I guess the clue lies inside the rootball? Should I dig the tree out and remove the burlap?? I hope this won't damage the tree any further. Or should I just leave it, water it deeply once/twice a week so that it has a chance to get its roots stablished (as jimmyq suggested). Thanks, fjlau
Stick with Jimmyq. I think the tree will be fine. The burlap, if real burlap, should be left on in most cases and losened at the top by cutting or removing the uper twine. Then pull back the burlap near the trunk. If the symptoms progress, you should let the nursery know the situation as soon as possible. MJH
You should never plant any tree with a wire basket or burlap left on the tree! People think that the wire and the burlap rot away with time. The fact is that by the time you are 10" down in the soil there is less that 3 percent oxygen available. No Oxygen no Oxydation (rust) or Rot for that matter. This is why you can go to any landfill and dig down a short distance and find items 25-50 years old in practically the same shape as they were buried. The proper way to plant is to cut the bottom of the wire basket and burlap off the ball before placing in the hole and then stand the tree up in the hole. Have someone steady the top of the tree while another person cuts the horizontal wires down one side of the ball you should be able to peal the wire basket off the ball like an onion skin. Then take a pocket knife and split the burlap down one side to the bottom and peel it off as well. Any dirt that falls off the ball likely had no roots attached to it anyway. It is extremely important not to plant the tree to deep. Do Not assume that the proper planting depth is the ground level of the root ball! If you cannot identify the location of the flare roots of the tree you must gently dig soil away from the trunk of the tree until you locate them. Nurseries sometimes get in a big hurry to plant trees and they plant them to deep. Garden Centers then bury these trees in wood chips for several years sometimes adding an additional layer to the top of the ball. By the time you plant the tree, the tree may have 6" of soil piled on top of where it should be planted. Remember that planting a tree 1/2" to deep can reduce the life of the tree by 1/3! So find the flare roots and take a sharp spade and remove the extra soil. You may find that 2" caliper tree you purchased was actually a 3" caliper tree! The feeder roots or Hair roots that are removed only take 14 days to regenerate. Also by removing that extra soil off the top of the ball you will need to dig a more shallow hole so it is advisable to locate those flare roots before you dig your hole to deep. By planting in this manner you will practically eliminate girdling roots which kills a lot of trees world wide prematurely!
According to 'PlantAmnesty' newsletter 80 percent of trees planted too deep. For more on planting balled and burlapped stock: http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda Chalker-Scott/Horticultural Myths_files/Myths/B&B root ball.pdf
