Congratulations, that's a beautiful tree! :) The second to the last picture (where you're showing the new growth) looks almost like scarring from citrus leaf miners. Look up pictures of CLM and see if it matches anything you see on the tree. Could be old, too, in which case, I wouldn't worry about it. New growth tends to be lighter in color but it looks almost like magnesium deficiency due to the christmas tree pattern. If you do decide to add magnesium, also consider adding calcium as they come as a pair and too much of one prevents the tree from using the other one. Try to get a good fertilizer with magnesium and calcium in addition to a good NPK ratio. I believe that everyone likes Dyna Gro here. The speckling on your leaves could also have come from spider mites. They look like tiny dark or red pinpoints that move. See anything like that on your tree? I'm still in the process of trying 511 myself but I've heard nothing but good things about it. It almost doesn't matter how damp or wet the soil is right after you water it. What matters the most is how fast the soil dries out. Its okay to be damp right after watering. If you use a water probe, wait until its just below 50% (debatable for all the experts out there, and I'm no expert) before watering. You should have to wait no longer than a week for your soil to need another thorough watering (in my opinion). I have no guesses as to what the tiny white bugs in your soil are but I googled springtail and the pictures that came up are simply horrifying. Good luck!

Don't get me wrong-I myself have long participated in reforesting of our city following the elm event. Of course there's still some great streets and neighborhoods-even whole communities. What I am saying though is that in the aggregate, summing the whole kit and kaboodle up, we have a lesser resource today than we did yesteryear. For one example, even in my city the forester or others like to tout the fact that each year, we plant more trees than we remove. Yes, of course we do, I say, but the new trees are almost all going into new streets, new subdivisions that didn't even exist back whenever the comparative year was. If one was to somehow mount a camera over a city, perfectly stationary, and take time-lapse photos of the older parts of town, they're in a shambles so far as tree cover compared to where they were years ago, before all the elms died, before all the big old silver maples started falling apart, etc. I'm sure it seems overly bleak how I worded that post, but I'm certain there's a kernel of truth to it, even as I and you folks and a bunch of others go on with our daily lives, much of which involves trees and other greenery. I'm not pointing my finger at anyone or anything...just telling it like it is, as I see it. And one other facet: The power companies, long having spent considerable dollars on line clearance, so we can all plug in our toasters, has finally prevailed on urban forestry managers all across the nation to plant little mini-trees under power lines. Now from that one single perspective, I get it. But from every other perspective, it's been a disaster for the look, feel, and design elements of our city streets. Does anyone really get anything from a street lined with 'Ivory Silk' tree lilacs, themselves spaced far and wide? They will never coalesce, they will never create a canopy, they will never do any of the key things I listed above that street trees can and should be doing. This as much as anything has diminished the value of our urban forests. I once put this idea down as one for further discussion at the arborist's meetings. Well-and this has happened a lot-they took me up on it and this subject was one of the main ones at the following year's conference. I didn't get to go to that one but from what I heard, there was much scowling and wailing and gnashing of teeth at this talk and the idea behind it. It was actively rejected by the majority of city foresters and others in attendance. That's how far things have fallen-we can't even talk about it!

I'm not familiar with Oakley climate- is it more bay or more-say- Concord like? They like all the heat they can get,but hate frosts at that size. Its already sending out growth,so what you should do is just wait a little longer and in April or May find a spot that gets all day sun,has good water drainage,and I would recommend mixing in some perlite with the soil you dig up- LIBERALLY- with perlite,maybe some compost ( mild) and if you can,a hot wall nearby will help. I wouldn't worry about the foliage- its just been roughed up going from wholesaler to Lowe's,to you,inside,outside,etc. They can be grown in large pots. But,in ground is what you really want..a tree you can pick real fruit from. Container growing is nice if you have ten different tree's..something like that. But one plant? Just remember my law- PROTECT FROM 32F FOR THE FIRST THREE YEARS. After that they can take a light frost or short 32 in stride.

No pictures here or in the other topic. Assuming you are still in MASS, it is faaaaar too early to see Japanese beetle grubs in a lawn. First you have to have the attack of the porch lights by swarms of beetles. That usually happens later this month. If you don't have swarms, then you're likely good to go for the rest of the year. If you do have swarms, THEN, wait until early July to look for grubs. Dig up a 1 square foot section of turf. Count the number of grubs you find. If you have fewer than about a dozen, cover it all up and again, you're good to go. The lawn can handle small numbers of grubs. But if you start to dig and already see uncountable masses of grubs, then you have a problem and need to treat the lawn.