Well, my first thought is to say a resounding NO, it can't be saved. If you are really dedicated to it, you can try, but..., it may not be possible to save it. Donating a new tree and planting it properly MAY be a better use of your efforts.

I would skip the iron - you don't know that's what is needed without a soil test.

What I might do instead, in terms of feeding it, is to scratch in a couple of handsful of alfalfa meal, and a handful of an organic, balanced fertilizer, into the soil - the alfalfa meal contains a growth stimulant, but a mild one, and will give a little extra nitrogen, and the organic fert. will be fairly gentle, and won't burn the roots, which have to be struggling. It has probably had a goodly dose of the lawn chemicals, which may have burned the roots.

Mulching as widely as you can, no deeper than 4", and with no mulch in the 2-4" next to the trunk will help, if for no other reason than it might keep the next application of "various chemicals...I don't know what are applied to surrounding lawn", from getting to the roots.

Water well, but check the top couple of inches of soil first - if it's dry, water, and if it's still moist, then wait and check again. You want to water the whole root area, slowly and deeply. If the lawn gets irrigated, the amount of water that gets to the tree may or may not be enough. What was the condition of the soil you removed like - dry, soggy, compacted, loose, etc., etc. - since that might tell you about the watering in the past?

Good luck!

Thanks dibbit! I'll try the alfalfa meal & balanced organic fertilizer. I prefer doing things organically & use compost & cow manure/rock phosphate/greensand routinely when preparing beds.

"What was the condition of the soil you removed like - dry, soggy, compacted, loose,"

Right around the trunk, the soil was pretty crappy...there was that gawdawful thick landscape fabric over the clayey soil & LOTS of hardwood bark mulch over that. About 2 feet out, no more landscape fabric & the mulch had started to improve the soil a bit. Definite demarcation line between the clay & the mulch-improved layer on top. Several of the roots have grown from their original position around the trunk flare *vertically* to find air! They've now got an inch-worm kind of appearance since I've removed the soil around the trunk. I did tell them it's chances were 50-50 or less...

The lawn doesn't get irrigated, but given the amount of moisture we received in this area last year, it may have been drowned as, even though we've had well less than "normal" rainfall this spring, the area was relatively moist as I've been excavating.

Diane

The thing people do to poor defenseless trees, mostly with the best of intentions!

If it's in clay soil, and planted so deeply as to now be in a hollow - I dunno. It may just be too soggy/wet in its so-nice, little hollow, and the roots may not be able to grow out and away enough to compensate. Covering the exposed roots with no more than 4" of hard wood mulch - you might go an inch or two deeper with pine straw, as "fluffy" as it is - will keep any exposed roots from drying out and dieing. As I am sure you already know - it's become my knee-jerk posting....

Getting all the junk away from it should help. It is amazing how hard trees, and plants in general, will sometimes try to live, while others just turn up their toes at the first adversity.