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Could be transplant stress, could be anthractnose, could need water.Don't be afraid to water. Water the root zone not the leaves.

Definitely water it in the morning and evenings (that way it won't burn) I would water it more frequently than usual, until it is established, like almost everyday. One tulip tree I had also had browning leaves, but it was because the tree was root bound..
BTW these trees get very large, and grow fast. : )

J

I grew some tulip trees last summer, they were about 7 or 8 feet high. I had a similar problem with one of them I got, I got it around May instead of earlier in April like the other one. A lot of the leaves got brown and fell off. It took a while to come back this winter but it sure came back! I thought it was dead but nope. Now my babies are around 12 feet.

Hopefully it's just transplant shock. Sometimes it won't show up for a few months.

You can also use Picasa to upload pics, you have to embed the html address in the message box but picasa makes it easy. I'd love to see pictures.

Somewhat unrelated...but isn't sunburn leaves from watering in the sun a myth?

Sounds to me like not enough water. The water needs of a tree are often in large part due to the soil in which they're planted. I have rocky, sandy soil and I can give my trees 300 gallons of water, which is about an hour with the hose at the base and I can pull the hose back and the water sinks in in about 20 seconds. I mean there is no standing water at all. That's how fast it drains. I think I probably have the best draining soil of anyone I've ever heard of. I had one neighbor, who has a tree farm, tell me it is impossible to over water trees out where we live.

I have 3, 6 foot maples and they get watered once or twice a week for an hour or 2. When I got them last year I didnt nearly water them enough, 15 gallons a week and the leaves started to turn brown. Once I started to water them like I am now they immediately became flush with green and have remained so and are growing like crazy. But ah my water well! I can imagine I am going to need a new pump before long with all this watering. lol Good thing we have a high water table!

I recognize that someone who has clay soil would have trees that would succumb to my amount o watering. It all depends on the tree and the type of soil.

you water.... WHEN THE TREE NEEDS WATER ....

too much.. is just as bad as too little ....

THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW ... in your soil.. in your garden.. is for you to INSERT YOUR FINGER.. and find out if the soil.. UNDER PROPER MULCH is hot or dry ....

if it is dry.. water it .. deeply.. so it gets thru the whole root system .... dig a small hole.. to find out if you are actually getting water down where you planted the roots ....

if it is hot .. it will be dry tomorrow ... as one of the purposes of the mulch.. is to keep the soil cooler ....

over-watering.. in soil that does not drain properly ... will kill a tree faster than under-watering.. IMHO ....

in my mineral sand.. i could dig a hole the size of a 5 gal bucket.. and barely get it filled as the water would drain away.. and when the soil was finally saturated enough to fill the hole.. once i turn off the water.. it will be gone within minutes.. that is the type of drainage most trees like... and i still ONLY water newly planted trees... deeply.. once every two weeks ...

the thought that any tree needs PROPER watering more than once a week.. is questionable .. unless you are not doing it properly ....

good luck

ken

ps: forget about the first one.. it was a tree 'tard.. it has no relevance to this one.. except in how you might be watering it .... or how you planted it.... etc ...

Thank you to all of you for the advice. I will keep an eye on it and check the soil before I water. Might it help if I add some fertilizer?

Now that you say a tulip tree that looked dead came back, I wonder if I threw my other one away too quickly. But it literally looked like a brown stick--no shoots, nothing.

I will try to post the photos--

Julia

Thanks to all of you advisers. I didn't know how to upload the pics, so I just put them on a blog:

http://julishkagarden.blogspot.com/

This is just the pictures--nothing else on this link, no advertising or anything. Thanks for your advice! Maybe the photos will help with a diagnosis from someone who recognizes the signs.