The pine bark fines was mixed with the native soil for two main reasons. First, the area where they were planted is pretty heavy hard clay so a small amount of organic matter (1/4 - 1/3 of the backfill) was added to help to generally improve soil quality. Second (and related), since the thujas were in containers from the nursery, the soil quality of the container was much different (and better) than the soil quality in the ground, I mixed in the organic matter to provide the roots a more gradual transition to the surrounding clay soil.

Have i been checking "on a regular basis"... no. Periodically throughout the summer... yes. That area is a bit difficult to get to daily to check the conditions, but I was getting down there every 1.5-2 wks and the soil moisture appeared to be fine.

But all four of these are planted in similar conditions in a straight line on the hill, so I would expect similar behavior from them unless there was another variable.

its dead.. be done with it ....

if you have a warranty .. exercise it .... but perhaps get the new one .. and save it FOR PROPER PLANTING TIME .... ask if you dont know how to HOLD IT OVER until proper planting time ... AUGUST IS NOT THE TIME TO BE PLANTING CONIFERS .....

in gardening... 100% success is seldom achieved.. 75% isnt all that bad ....

let us presume there were problems with that plant before you ever got it.. and the trigger for death was its first heat of summer ...

good luck

ken

Clip off all the dead and allow that bottom green branch to start the new tree. I agree with ken 100%. Not everything lives.

Dax

1 out of 4 for a spring planting in SC isn't all that bad.
I'd agree that it's beyond the point of no return. You may also check to see if they are actually receiving too much water.

i wouldnt mess with the little sprig.. presuming you have to return the plant for refund ...

if you get to keep it.. i might throw it somewhere out back.. and see if it survives.. but you really didnt pay for a 5 year project and experiment .. to see if you can regrow it..

ken

If the pine bark fines were less than 1/3 of the backfill and at least the other 2/3 was native soil, and, the soil was well mixed, then that isn't likely to be a problem. It probably didn't help, but is unlikely to be the source of the problem.

Sounds like maybe the watering was OK too, but I would recommend keeping a close eye out for moisture in the original rootball as well as the surrounding soil. When the soil in the rootball varies significantly from surrounding soil, it's possible for the rootball to completely dry out while surrounding soil is still moist.

Sometimes it is hard to say what causes failure. Since only the one tree seems to be affected (and I would confirm this with a good inspection of the others), look for anything that could vary from the other trees. Variations in soil, animal damage, drainage variation, etc. should all be considered.

I've planted more 'Green Giants' than I could easily count, and my success rates (at least for the trees where I have been responsible for first year after care) has been near 100%. I have had failures with trees though that I couldn't explain. I have a small pawpaw orchard, and in just one spot, every tree I planted died. I went through about four trees. Finally I moved that one planting spot over just a few feet for the last replacement. The new tree grew great and the only ramification is one tree that's just a little out of place in my orchard.

The purpose of amending back-fill is to change the soil texture. The resulting difference in texture between the back-fill and the soil around the hole is the reason for watering problems with newly planted stock in amended planting holes. Liberal amending of planting hole back-fill is a waste of money because it is not beneficial. Amounts of amendments too low to change the soil texture would also, of course be a waste of money.

Where the entire rooting area can be amended and kept amended throughout the life of the planting, then there is a reason to amend. Examples are vegetable plots and annual flower plantings. Such types also respond to higher amounts of organic matter than are needed or helpful to longer term plants like trees and shrubs.

Trees and shrubs do vary in how much nitrogen and humus they like to be growing in. Which wild plant species are growing natively on a site can even be used to judge its agricultural potential. With woody plants the most practical approach is to plant those adapted to the existing soil. Fertilizer can be used in those instances where unsuitable nutrient levels would otherwise be the main limiting factor.