How were they planting them that it was different than you would have planted them?

It's very likely the cold snap a few weeks ago zapped the leaves on the JM but it should produce new buds. As for the holly, winter bun tends to be the main problem in bad winters. Mine all got this condition but mostly on the south facing side, which is the sunniest. They have lost most of their leaves from that side but most of the north have remained. It's likely the holly would have returned as well as the JM but it's nice you had the guarantee from the landscaper.

It would also be interesting to learn what your definition of 'well watered' is as it seems it's different for some.

I don't envy you guys up in that part of the state though. It was brutal up there last season; hopefully it's getting better.

did you properly water trees... or did you rely on lawn irrigation for such???

if they went into winter.. not properly.. and deeply watered... then one might suggest.. winter wasnt the primary cause ... it was just the icing on the cake ...

were these large transplants?? .. how large ..

more facts if you want more divination ...

ken

We had a brutal winter in S.E. Ohio. I may have lost several well-established trees, even with adequate rain last summer and into the fall, when they were going dormant. I lost established ground cover beds as well. Lost the tops off a tree peony, and a rare rhodie, though they look as if they may be coming back from lower branches. The prolonged cold was just an insult, period. Wait and see at this point is all I can say, but there is a chance .......even if you did everything right............they bit the dust. Did you have any replacement warranties on the work, just in case?

Sorry for the delay in responding -
As for watering - My dad taught me to water trees/shrubs slow but for long periods. He said you want the water to get way down into the roots and that takes time for the soil to get wet to the bottom of the hole.

So I would take my hose and put it on low - but, more than just a trickle - leave it run for a good 1/2 hour, move it around the tree area and leave it for another 1/2 or so. When I would see puddles or running water that were further away from the tree- I would stop watering.
Since the cold weather came early - I did not water in October. But, I did water until the end of September.

I don't know if my trees/hollies were transplants - I know the hollies were in large pots and the two JM were in dirt with burlap around them.

I did notice a few days ago that one branch on the large JM has a couple of leaves and the bark is a bright red. Other areas of the tree are a dull red and dry to the touch. I have not scratched the bark - I will leave the final decision of are they dead or just slow to come back due to the extreme winter we had.

As for how I would plant a tree: Dig a hole twice as big as the root ball - remove any burlap that would be protroding above the soil line - if it's in a pot, tap to remove from pot, loosen a tight root ball even if I had to use a knife to cut and loosen them, then put water in the hole, put the tree in, put some dirt, tamp with my feet, add more water, more soil more tamping till I get to the top of the landscape/dirt. Do not bury the tree - do not put too much mulch around the trunk.

They installed 4 trees and all 4 of them are either dead or ???. They did not use any water when they planted them. They did not tamp the soil, they did not loosen the root balls.
The things that did come back were the rose bushes (even though the bunnies chewed them up) ground cover (jenny something or other), the small evergreens/pines, a couple of perennials and the many low growing dwarf boxwods.

Is my planting method wrong? Is my watering method wrong?
Due to the fact that I got all new landscape and grass I watered alot last year. Could I have over watered?

Since the trees will be replaced at thier cost, If I'm doing something wrong, I need to know that so I don't kill more trees.
Thank You

Don't beat yourself up. I think it is more a winter/microclimate/plant choice issue.

"They installed 4 trees and all 4 of them are either dead or ???. They did not use any water when they planted them. They did not tamp the soil, they did not loosen the root balls. "

"I had my new landscaping put in last June."

" (zone 5-NWPA)"

"Japanese Maple"

I have taken a few snippets here.

First, I admire your landscaper for honoring his warranty.

- June is not the greatest time to be panting. Nothing is a sure fire 100% transplant but by planting in non prime time you lose survival percentages. Trust me, I do it all the time lol.

- I despise the idea of leaving burlap on the sides of rootballs. I burlap usually decays but it just seems like a nice barrier. I'm sure it only reduces root growth out of the rootball by 10% and probably only keeps 10% of the water you give it from getting in.

- Large transplants have lower success rates. If I dig a 1 foot tree out of the ground I might get 95% of the roots.

- My zone 6 winter and a late cold snap in the spring have lots of even large established Japanes Maples suffering around my neighborhood. I see a few inches of twig dieback on these fellas all the time.

- What kind of hollies? I have three that were supposed to be but probably were not American Holly Ilex opaca that have been in the ground ten years in zone six just looking dead. I'm waiting to cut them down until June for no good reason.

This winter has me thinking climate zone ratings for plants are generous. 1 because folks want to sell plants. 2 after a decade of observing an Acer palmatum this or that they just have to give it a rating. Too bad cold winters might only come along every two or three decades but realistically how long can they wait.

So a bunch of little things conspired against you. Don't beat yourself up.

Tornado - I looked at them last nite and one of the hollies has a tiny amount of tree leaves popping out of the bottom - I guess that could be a good sign that they are not DEAD but I do wonder if the stress of winter will just do them in later this year? Or if they will come back and get healthy? Should I give all my trees/shrubs any "food" to boost them up a bit?
When the lawn guy fertilizes I think he also gives some to the shrubs - so maybe that is enough.

Now that I think further back - it wasn't June that I had all this put in - it was later in the summer as we had a horrible spring and my house wasn't done enough to have it put in sooner. So, it could have been early August which is a worse time, but I did water everything like crazy!

Since you do this all the time, is my dad's method the right way to plant? Or dropping it in a hole, not tamping and watering after the fact the right way? Which gives you the best results?

Thanks!

My update would be 99% of what they planted 14 trees/shrubs died! They did replace a few things, which again died, they didn't change the way they planted anything and when I mentioned it to the owner, he did not agree with my suggestions and became very rude! I think another part of the proble was what they choose to plant. The front of my house gets horrific winds and I think the dwarf hollies and Japanese type maples were not suitable for the area.

Sorry to hear about it but thanks for the update.

Grab some small trees and plant them yourself I guess.

That's my new plan! I will be posting looking for evergreen suggestions that can take fairly harsh winds. Last year I again replaced the dwarf holly trees, the guy went to the nursery and picked American Hollies - they didn't fair well either. Whatever I get will be wrapped in the winter - I am soooo tired of replacing trees.

"My idea goes further, by requiring any perennial sold to be in
specialized containers that include printing of planting instructions on
sides. And an even better idea, I think...is to have a machine in every
garden center that can shave off outside roots, like pencil sharpener. I
cannot tell you how many times I find garden owners throwing out root
bound plants that died off. Even if planted by landscapers, who just
install tops of rootballs level with grade. So much so, that I have
coined the term "Perpetually juvenile landscapes"!"

Yes agreed - I think in spite of all the horrid disease problems we are dealing with these days: rose rosette, EAB, boxwood blight, etc. knotted container stock is the gardening "elephant in the room" almost no one is talking about (except on this forum!) It is the single most destructive problem facing home landscapes!

One important corollary though: it's not just the sides of root masses that are the problem. As I've posted about before, I've had big 2-5 gallon containers whose side roots didn't seem a problem, when I cut in and down a few inches on the sides. It's right under the collar of the plant where there can be knotting, from when a liner started in a seed flat was up-potted one or more years prior.

My POV nowadays is almost to very carefully "convert the plant to bare root" when planting most container stock. Rinse and shake as much of the container soil as is required to get an overview of the root system. (may be only 40% or so) Fix any problems observed. So far so good.

Davidrt28, you are spot on! Today anything "Uppotted" in Nursery should be considered Suspect. Even if sold in Root liner bags. Since learning Nurseries growing from seed or grafting, then sell to other nurseries specializing in producing whips. Which sell to other Nurseries growing trees in field. And even Nurseries that just buy everything from other Nurseries, for selling final B&B stock to customers. Requiring growing contracts to now specify, during no part of process will trees be grown in pots.

I learned about this issue first hand, after noticing stock arriving in fabric Root liners. Had circling roots found deeper in rootball, which oddly resembled outline of smaller pots. So just like you suggest, it would be wiser to transform potted or even large B&B stock...into bare root planting. I think you will agree, anyone taking time to observe what's really going on underneath soil line. Will always know way more than individuals who just assume, Nurseries must be experts at growing and planting trees...so no worries?!

For years I have been completely root pruning all outer and bottom edges of potted trees, along with root flare excavation on top surface of root ball. After noticing it's pretty much waste of time to vertically slit rootball down sides into quarters with sharp knife or flat ended garden spade, in hopes all circling roots will be rectified. This year our CRTI committee that is trying to make changes to Arboricultural industry, has begun working with big box stores. In order to begin supplying special planting instructions tag, to be included with every sale of tree or plant.