Do you think you watered it too much. Could the tree be setting in a pool of water. Find out what you did wrong it's either too much or too little water.

Unless you have EXTREMELY quick draining soil, the lack of water was probably not the problem. Most soil simply doesn't go from waterlogged to dry in two days, especially down at root level, and I hope you watered it WELL when it was planted. I strongly suspect something went wrong in planting, but without more information it's hard to know exactly what. Can you give us details about how you got the tree (was it container grown, B&B, freshly dug, etc)? What did you do to prepare the tree and the planting site for planting (root trimming, bare-rooting the tree, removing burlap, amending the back fill soil, etc)? What's the soil in your yard like? The more detail we have, the more likely we might be able to suggest what happened. Is the soil in the rootball (assuming you did not bare-root the tree) similar to the soil in your yard? Have you dug down a few inches and tested your soil's moisture (both around and IN the rootball)?

The dufus at Home Depot needs to go back to his regular position in the home appliance department. Don't dowse your already struggling tree with fertilizer!

Too much water can also make leaves turn yellow. Transplant shock also comes into play. Pics of the planting site and the tree would be helpful.

DO NOT FERTILIZE IT! You will make the situation worse.

With time and some TLC (mulch and deep water every week or so if you do not get rain) new buds will hopefully form and the tree will survive this year. The watering frequency really depends on your soil's drainage.

mommacude,
First where are you in general located (i.e. South East Arkansas) and what has the weather been doing? Windy and warm? Dry air? Drought? Lots of wildfires? Also do you know what kind of soil you have? If you dig a hole and fill it with water, how does it take to drain? Reason for asking all this is that it gives us some clues as to what's going on.

So to make sure I am correct to this point. You planted a larger tree 5 days ago. Watered first day, and then got rain, but no water for three days after that, and I assume warm conditions since you list Zone 8. Assuming that is correct, then I personally don't think over watering would have done this much damage in 5 days. I think you are right in that it got too dry. The roots have certainly not extended into the surrounding soil to any real degree in 5 days, and those root balls don't hold that much water. Watering a large leafed out tree is a fine balancing act for the first few months, that can be very difficult. I planted a 10 Gallon Sugar Maple a few years ago at the end of May/early June, I ended up slow watering it with gallon juggs that had pins holes in them, 1.5 gallons every other day for about 2 months, and it still got leaf burn. This is where the often recommended technique of sticking your finger in the rootball daily really pays off. If it feels dry, or only slightly moist, water it. If it feels wet do not. You will figure out in just a week or so how much and how often to water. Now what else can be done? No fertilizer. It will probable leaf out again, and you can probable still have a nice tree out of it. But you will have to water as needed, not by a time schedule. Lastly, if the tree does not survive due to lack or water, or over watering, then that is not the nurseries fault, and I would hope you would not want to return it anyway.

Arktrees

LOL, Looks like I might be on the other side of the fence on this one! ;-)

Arktrees

"Looks like I might be on the other side of the fence on this one!"

Too soon to tell. I don't think we even know where the "fence" is yet.

we prefer that trees be planted when dormant.. w/o leaves .... unfortunately.. bigbox usually dont have trees then.. at the right time ...

because transplanting.. will disturb the plants roots ability to pump water ... which if the tree is leafed out.. is a big stinkin problem ...

in said circ's ... the tree may sacrifice the leaves.. so as to protect itself until it gets the roots working ...

all other things proper.. a tree can releaf ... [as per the suggestions above]

that is as simple as i can make it...

with the caveat that you water.. WHEN IT NEEDS WATER.. insert finger to second knuckle.. and do not water it again.. until the soil is dry.. or hot.. hot meaning it will dry in a day or two ... over-watering can be as problematic as not watering.. as noted above ... those leaves are goners.. so drowning the thing will not resurrect them ....

you should have a warranty ... so put it somewhere safe... and relax ... trees arent that hard.. if you dont try to kill them with too much TLC.. or water in this case ...

and i agree .. no fert ... fertilizer is not medicine .... do you overfeed a sick child??? .. i think not .... in fact .. most trees .. never need fert.. especially if you fert your lawn.. and the tree is sitting in the middle of the lawn .... unless a soil test indicates something is missing from the soil ....

ken

Is there anything I can do to save this tree? Should we keep trying to revive it or are we out of luck?

Impossible to tell with info provided. Some combination of transplant shock, weather, and stock. All you can do is water it and see.

Dan

Containerized trees need much more babying than their field grown counterparts. It would not be unusual for a root ball of that size to remain bone dry after a normal watering routine. Also, if you have a layer of mulch applied, it takes a much longer watering time or a bigger rain event to do the job.

I'm curious....what was the MiracleGro product you were sold?

I'm running a project where we are planting ~75 trees now and more soon. The contractor said that there are a few cities around here spec'ing containerized trees have their outer 3/4 inch of ball all removed, then planted.

Trying to run the research down now, but regardless, riffing on rhizo's point, 35 gallon is large for a container. Lots of opportunity for drying out, roots getting cooked, and getting habituated to a can rather than mother earth. Transplant shock in such a large can is virtually certain IME, and minimizing it is of utmost importance.

Dan