The planting technique they used was to dig the hole, place root ball in, apply some Bayer liquid root starter fertilizer, backfill with dirt and pile up around the trunk the place mulch over that and finally stake the trees and water. Good news is there are still new buds so all is not lost.

pull back the soil.. until you can see the root flare ... snap a pic and report back ....

i dont know if its simply the words you choose.. or bad planting ...

mulch should not touch the tree either...

if there is a next time.. skip instant gratification ... and go no more than 1/3 the size of these .... in 5 years.. the smaller tree will outgrow the huge transplant ... and you will save about 1200 per tree...

and..what is your base soil ...

and NEVER use spikes again ... your lawn looks fert'd ... from now on.. it will get.. what little it needs.. from the lawn ... trust us on that ...

ken

hope its not like pic 2

https://www.google.com/search?q=tree+root+flare&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAmoVChMIlOKYrNuIxgIVxjGsCh0lSwD0&biw=873&bih=745&dpr=0.9

Yeah! Fertilizer spikes!

+oM

Not impressed with the staking, mulching, fertilizer directions, mulch...I wonder if, like ken's suspicion, they are planted too deeply and the rain made them unhappy - although Betula is more tolerant of that than most trees.

I plan on following ken_adrian's suggestions this weekend. Looks like we have another 3" of rain coming over the next four to five days. Root flare pics coming soon.

Not sure if these will be helpful or not. This is as much of the root flare as I could expose due to the growth of new roots . The gray/brown dirt is what the trees were grown in. The red dirt is the soil in my yard. I had to wet it down to be able to move the dirt back.

Obviously, this was a prime example of...wait for it...red herrings.

You have a birch. Which is highly subject to water stress. To much, too little, it's a day that ends in y. Oh yeah, and you are in Oklahoma? End result, leaves on the ground.

Consistent moisture. That's worth repeating. If the rootball was dry enough that you had to wet it down to scrape a little soil, you were far to dry for what a birch likes.

In this age of the internet, I absolutely refuse to post a picture of any tree that I plant. Someone will find something wrong with it. Mulch circle too big, mulch circle to small, OMG, you even used a mulch circle? I think they are ugly blights upon the landscape. You staked that tree? You didn't stake that tree? that tree was staked wrong because...well, you supply the reason. You planted a tree that was HOW big? You planted a tree that was HOW small?

Fertilizer? Another hot button topic, and spikes are a hot button subject within the topic of fertilizer. You were stepping on landmines and had no idea. And everyone has some kind of rationale to support their notions, yet when all the bs is cleared away, most of it is personal preference.

Consistent moisture. fertilizer will push new growth, and everyone and their mother will have an opinion on whether or not you should. my .02...follow the recommendations of the person who is covering the warranty.

Because let's face it...they didn't do too bad, and the advice is pretty mundane.

My thoughts exactly and especially about having to wet the soil last night. I had just watered the trees the day before for one hour just as recommended by the tree farm, so I was surprised to find it so dry. We got some good rain last night though. Let me just say I hate our red dirt, it's sandy, full of clay and gets rock hard if it's too dry. It's what I have so I must deal with it.

No one mentioned root loss from digging and replanting. If everything had been done right from the time they were dug, they still would have lost a lot of leaves. That's a big tree to replant in August in Oklahoma,....or anywhere else for that matter.

Did they come in a container or burlap?
Mike

Mike they came in burlap.

Burlapped would probably suffer more setback than if it were in a container.
I think they are doing remarkably well considering all the factors.
Also, it's hard to transport trees of that size with the leaves on without getting a lot of windburn unless they used a large box truck. That was last year, but I'm sure it didn't do the tree any good for this year. Could have weakened it a bit.
It doesn't look like there was much soil preparation prior to planting. Was there?
Mike

You are right. We relied completely on the them since the delivery and planting cost was just as much as the trees themselves. The only thing that was done to the soil prior to planting was our regular fertilization of the lawn. They dug the holes and placed the trees in and added some liquid root or tree fertilizer.

Finally, even perfectly planted river birch just seem to continually lose leaves. Note, I said planted. Those I see in the valley of the Wisconsin River-so I'm talking central WI-are just fine, but nobody planted them. This species is understandably quite popular, such that it is finding its way to places utterly unlike its native haunts. Expect some trouble.

+oM