One of the things that can happen with container grown plant material is that the rootball can dry out even though the surrounding soil is kept moist. Peat based planting media is pretty much universal today for container grown stock. Once the peat dries, it's very hard to re-wet. Further, it shrinks when dry so you have a gap between the rootball and native soil further preventing rewetting. That this would happen with one tree and not another nearby one is unusual but far from impossible. Try watering with a slow trickle from the hose at the very base of the tree. If that doesn't help with the remaining leaves and there is a warranty on the plant, contact the seller.

I think I planted correctly, these were container grown.

==>>> how about you define how you planted them ..

were they fully leafed out at planting??

how hot has it been since???

how about a pic

and please explain how you water.. how often.. and how you determine the need ...

you really havent given us much to go on ...

on some level.. you have to presume a nursery is not selling diseased stock ... and no disease is going to pop up in your garden in 2 weeks...

so that means.. its all transplant shock ... travel shock ... etc ...

or digging shock .. i cant really fathom.. growing a 3 inch caliper tree in a pot to that size ...

ken

Brendan, the depth of planting is indeed a serious issue, but not one which would account for the early failure of a transplanted tree. Its manifestations only come on later, after the tree has been in the ground for some time. So we can cross that out. But......I do want to disabuse you and anyone else reading this of the notion that the top of the root ball of a B&B tree is automatically the correct planting depth. It's not. Picture this tree, and a whole bunch just like it, growing in a row in a nursery. Weeds are always a problem and periodically, the nursery personnel will run a tractor with a cultivator of some kind down those rows to help get rid of these weeds. In the process, much soil may get heaped up around the tree trunk's base. Now, when that tree gets dug for sale, it has it's root ball with a bunch of extra dirt piled up on it. So when that gets planted, if that ball height is taken to be the proper depth of planting, one will actually be planting it too deep. We have already taken as much as 18 inches of soil off the top of a root ball, looking for the root flare, that swollen area where trunk meets roots. This root flare, when done correctly, should still be visible when tree is planted. This, and only this, is the proper guidance for depth of planting of a B&B tree.

+oM

Well, while all advice is useful I am really looking for guidance on how
to deal with tree that is now browning, this is why I didn't go in to
extreme detail on what I've done so far.

==>>> it could be any of the shocks i mentioned ... and but for proper watering.. THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT ...

it if it was a filed grown tree.. a 3 incher... and 99% of its root mass was cut off .. to fit it into a shipping pot ... there is no way in the world to find out.. if its roots were simply slaughtered by the digging .. until it dies.. and you dig it up.. and find out about the roots ...

you seem to think this is an all or nothing thing.. either all trees die.. or all live .. but ma nature doesnt work that way ... you may never have an answer to why one of the bunch didnt make it ..

even highly experienced gardens.. expect a loss ratio ... but you seem to think you shouldnt ... but i understand why.. becasue this thing probably cost a mint ...

if you dont want to discuss all the variables.. its not worth coming back ... i wish you luck ...

ken

Sometimes, we just don't know why one or more of our trees doesn't make it. If this were me, I'd wait a bit yet. Trees can recover from total foliage loss, although it does take energy to do so. You can do the scratch test anywhere along the main stem or branches. Just use your finger nail to carefully scratch off a little of the thin bark, looking to see if green, living tissue is underneath. At least this way you've got your answer to the biggest question-that of whether or not the plant is still alive.

It's early in the growing season. May as well give it a few more weeks to assess status. I can't discern anything you did or didn't do that could account for this. Like I say, sometimes stuff just happens. Of course there's a cause. We just don't have the ability to identify it.

+oM

I've been watering between once and twice a week soaking the area pretty well and then allowing it to dry somewhat before watering again.

One is showing symptoms and others are not? The hardest question to answer is, I have (number) of these, I've done EVERYTHING the same, what's wrong? Well, the obvious answer is everything is not the same, and without doing a thorough and complete analysis, which just about no one is going to pay for, a satisfying answer just cannot be found. Something is different, and it could be a pocket of soil in a specific location, or it could have come with the plant.

If we play the odds, the issue is with water. Too much, too little, the differences can be surprisingly similar. Get a little dirty, dig a little hole. Find out how much water is six inches down, twelve inches down. Is the root ball moist all the way down? soaking at the bottom, dry at the top? Is the surrounding soil significantly wetter or drier? Just learning the answers to these questions will show you a lot about how water and soil interact, and how what you think may be sufficient may be woefully inadequate here and a dangerous surplus there.