doesnt sound good ... i would immediately put the seller on notice of a potential claim ... BY PHONE .. and explain that i understand that it is early .. and perhaps it will spark to life.. but that if it doesnt .. that i will expect a refund.. or a replacement .. if not immediately.. then at the next shipping season or fall ... i have found.. that using sugar.. is better than calling and reaming them a new spigot ... to mix a metaphor half the time.. when it is this early.. they will immediately ship a new one ... other times.. it is too late.. and they will ship in fall ... just never forget .. that odds are.. the peep on the phone .. usually has nothing to do with the whole fiasco .. but if you piss them off.. you are really messing up your odds of a favorable result ... now.. lets be honest.. you did not really expect every single tree that you planted this year.. to live.. did you??? and i think we are going to have to drag you.. kicking and screaming.. into the 21st century.. by continually insisting that you post some pix .... ken ps: black buds are usually dead.. but for perhaps a red leafed tree which might look black .. but if they are squishy.. rather than firm.. for sure dead ... once you see those.. then you do the scratch test.. to see if you can find any live green cambian.. just under the bark ... if both.. then its probably dead ... but you will never know what is going on under ground ... but your first thought should be whether it is grafted.. or on its own roots ... and whether what might come up from underneath will be the tree ... i have had a couple trees.. over the year.. that did NOTHING .. and i did as i said above.. and actually got early replacements.. only to have the darn first one.. BUD OUT IN AUGUST ... lol ... Here is a link that might be useful: link

I think this year is the Year 2011 of the coming of the Lord, and the Bud which usually comes out as a small fig, even before the leaves come out, will open and you will actually see the "bloom" of the fig, which has never happened before. The "bloom" has always been hidden inside the small fig. If you see this happen, please advise me so.

Can you give us a close up picture of one of the leaves? it my not be a virus. because as far as i could tell you don't have the Yellowing patterns in the leaf veins. But on an another note. how tall is the plants from the black bags. is the plants shorter than the rest? if so "or maybe" the bags might be getting hot and that type of plant my not like 120+ degrees of hot air or steam coming up from the bottom. another case might be over watered "wet soil" I live here in Fl and recently its been raining its butt off an gets hot mid day then lots of clouds and rain. as you can see on my JHC has the same problem on some leaves on the plant. both old and new. and I know its not the virus because of all the fruit I have gotten off of it last year and this year. She doesn't like to much water and then it becomes a steaming pot during the day. Also my bhut is right next to her "as you can see on the left and has no signs of distress even tho most of her leaves are way above the pot. anyways thats just my 2 cents :) I hope I was helpful in some way

i would say its probably lack of sunlight. it can only support so many leaves at one time... when it decided to grow new ones, and you brought it in, it had more leaves than it could support, and had to loose a few. it does look like the leaves are curling a bit ? Are they ? or, maybe just appears that way in the pic ? 3 tablespoons ? twice in a month and little sun ? Yes... too much fish. plants do not use organics directly. bacteria and fungi eat the organics, protozoa, nematodes and other organisms eat the fungi and bacteria... Their waste stream is the fertilizer. This takes days, or, up to several weeks. so your probably giving it more fish, before its broken all of the old stuff down what type of soil is it ? i would 1) stop the fish until it starts getting several hours of direct sun, THEN, use 1tbsp per gallon. 2) get 2 handfulls of soil from 2 inches deep under an old oak tree, add to your soil, under any mulch if you use it... add some woody mulch on top. OR use a very good compost tea, or worm tea. first i would wait till the soil is fairly dry and flush with clear water, un-chlorinated is better.