As I walk through the the neighborhood, I see a lot of stressed trees. Not dead or dying, but severely stressed. The windstorm was not helpful, but the full-on record heat is the greater culprit. Your trees could use some help to continue to establish themselves in the soil. Here are a few tips to help them survive until they get established:
1. During this record heat, the trees, many of which were planted within the last three months are still in the establishment phase, and need regular extra water. Their leaves are simply not drawing enough water from its nascent root system to make a go of it. Please consider doubling-up your irrigation in the zones that contain your trees on your prescribed watering days, and maybe drop the hose at its roots to make sure that it gets water every second or third day during establishment in the hot weather.
2. In order to help the water serve the tree, please consider buying 2 cu.ft. of compost and 2 cu.ft. of mulch per tree. Lay the compost over your existing mulch or scrape away your existing mulch and lay the compost over the clay soil. Mix the soils, meaning stick a shovel or pitchfork around your root ball, and loosen it some, letting the compost seep closer to your roots. Next, just lay the new/existing mulch over top of the root ball (in the cup shape that was originally there) to keep the water around the tree.
Before you call your builder or Catellus to replace your tree (which would face an even greater struggle if planted in June or July), first try these methods, give it 60-90 days, and see if you can save the tree that's there.
Agreed-just one concern. My builder, Standard Pacific, said there was only a 60 day warranty on the plants. I have been frustrated with some of the plant choices as they planted Indian Hawthorne, a plant that does not stand up well to disease. One things to also consider is spraying your plants with liquid seaweed--a super vitamin for all plants.
Langhugh.... You have continued to give excellent advice on landscaping in our community. The trees that were uprooted, as well as the ones that survived, have to receive some additional water. This heat and wind are doing a number on the trees and on the plantings in the alleys. It looks like there are quite a few nice shrubs planted in the rear of homes that are now goners. I don't believe those are hooked up to any bubblers and a few minutes of water on the grass is not going to reach those roots. I wish that we could have some kind of landscaping suggestions that could be circulated to all residents to help preserve what we now have and avoid any more losses. The seawood, liquid compost, Medina products are excellent choices. The worst thing right now would be to pound tree stakes in thinking they might bring those stressed trees back to life. I know that not everyone reads this forum, but I wish word of mouth or some other form could get out the information such as Langhugh has to offer. Eager
Aw Shucks, Eager, I'm just sharing what my daddy taught me. Wait...is that you, dad?
If I could amend the above and the following TreeFolks post: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2122, it would be to suggest that we try and keep the mulch away from bury the root flare. What's the root flare? It's just the area of the trunk where the trunk begins to flare out at the bottom to the horizontal roots. The root flare should be in contact with air, and not dirt or mulch. While the landscapers arranged the mulch in the proper bowl shape, they still planted many of the trees a little deep and buried the root flare. If your tree just looks like a stick in the ground, consider digging out the mulch around the trunk and letting the root flare breath.
One of my curbside trees was uprooted on May 15th, and when Meritage got them upright the next day, they apparently buried the bubbler underneath (and removed all of the mulch). I made a service request, and they'll look into this, but other trees may also be affected.
A separate issue: I have a live oak in my yard. The original tree was DOA. When the landscaping people replaced it in March, they commented that the root ball was wet, and that there was standing water in the hole.
The replacement tree seems to be on its way out, too, and the builder suggests I water it more (since the yard trees don't have a bubbler). However, the leaves don't appear to be dried up - could it be that the tree is drowning due to draining issue and clay-ish soil?
This your trees infomercial is fantastic, and thanks for giving your review here. With this review, I can complete my arborist gig now. That is wonderful for me. You always help me out, and that's why I love you!
Lots of time I facing the bad services they make my land rough and dirty so I hired the team of http://www.nwgeorgiatreeservices.com.They clean the land smoothly. Great job.
.They clean the land smoothly. Great job.
