Steve: Wait a minute here, you purchased a serviceberry shrub at 12'? Does that mean 12 feet tall? Surely this cannot be so. That is the size of a middle-age serviceberry that has been in the ground for many years. What kind of a rootball would such a plant have? Surely too big to get in a wheelbarrow. If it really is as big as you say, that is a bit too large to be trying to transplant in the middle of the summer. If it is fully leafed out, it must be transpiring moisture very rapidly in the kind of heat we are experiencing now, and I don't see how the roots can keep up. You may be able to slow the transpiration by pruning it back severely, but I would say the prognosis is not good for a tree transplanted at this time of year. Most of us who plant fruiting trees and bushes do so in the dormant season with young planting stock. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

A newly planted tree really really needs to be watered well....not necessarily every day but at least to the bottom of the root ball. August in New Jersey and you are planting a new balled in burlap tree? Why? You could hardly have donething that would be harder on the poor tree than to un bag it and shake the dirt off the roots and plant it in the heat of August. Stop putting stuf on it...no fert no root stimulator...just water. And if you can figure out a way to keep the tree out of any drying wind and keep the sun off of it fora couple of months, that would be good. If it loses it's leaves now, that doesn't bode well for survival. I can't understand why a garden center would sell you a B and B tree in the middle of the summer. I hope you have a guarantee. I am guessing the one was on the way out when you bought it. Linda C

Just wanted to post a followup on this for anyone who may come across this thread in the future. I always hate finding a thread full of good information, but then not knowing if it actually worked or not. I replaced the trees that died, and the new ones are doing great. Here's what I did differently. (I know that for some of you, these may be the most obvious things in the world, but some of us are still learning, even from our really stupid, obvious mistakes). - I waited til it cooled down. It got cooler earlier than I expected, so I was able to do the transplants a couple weeks ago. - Smaller trees. I did still really need the height, so I went with 6-8' tall trees (some are about 9', actually), but I got much smaller caliper (trunk diameter) trees. I tried for no more than about 1.5" caliper, measured 6 inches above the root flare (some are a little closer to 1.75"). They're definitely much less full, but they'll get the job done until they fill in and grow up a little. It helps a lot that I found out that for screening purposes, eastern red cedars can be planted as close as 4' apart. Bigger, fuller trees really aren't needed at that spacing. - No starter fertilizer. These are trees, not grass. I used some Fertilome Root Stimulator & Starter solution (per the manufacturer's instructions) when I planted, and may add some Superthrive in a couple weeks, just to get the roots really going before winter kicks in. - Much better care of the root balls. I didn't make perfect root balls, as such - after reading a whole lot of back and forth between scientists on the benefits of good root balls vs taking as much root as possible, even if they're outside of the dirt, I kind of went with a hybrid approach. I got as much root as I could, and kept as much dirt on them as possible. I kept all of them covered with dirt of some type for as much time as possible, and ensured that they never actually got dry. Total time from digging to planting was less than 4 hours, and most of that time, they were in some kind of dirt. - I watered with a sprinkler for a few days, to let moisture come in through both the roots & leaves, in case the roots were having difficulty of some kind. Then I found out about Wilt-Pruf (prevents moisture from escaping through the leaves, which causes a lot of transplant shock). I applied it per the manufacturer's instructions, and am now watering with a soaker hose, as Wilt-Pruf should also prevent absorption of water through the leaves. - I haven't mulched yet (life got in the way unexpectedly), but I will be soon. Something else I came across in my reading - mulch isn't required, but most bushes or trees that are mulched in their first year or two after transplant show 20%+ more growth than those that aren't. Since growth & size are my primary goals here, it's worth having that junk in my yard for a year or two. We'll see what, if anything, will grow under these trees once they're established, but for now, it's gonna be mulch. Thanks, everybody, for all the insights provided. Hopefully these results, and what I did to get them, will be useful to someone else in the future, too.

Dear kdragonsoul19, If the figs were vigorous and healthy when you purchased and planted them, they should not be keeling over in less than a month unless you have performed a fatal act upon them. After you planted the figs, did you water them copiously to ensure that their roots were hydrated? And have you kept them well-watered since you planted them? If you planted them in the past couple of weeks, winter temperatures are irrelevant. It's been fairly hot for quite a while. If your soil is sand, it is going to dry out quickly. Keep those figs well-watered, and hope for the best. However, in gardening, as in gambling, you win some; and you lose some. You may be fated to lose those figs. If so, don't despair. Replace them, and plant them in full-sun, which is what they prefer. Figs are not heavy feeders, so don't burn them up with unnecessary chemical fertilizer.