It may help if you give your location and whether your area experienced the recent heat wave much if the US did. What type of trees did you plant? I’m no tree expert, but hopefully one will come along. If they were mine, I’d keep watering and see what happens.

east WA. I checked history of temps, and it was high 70s-80s all month, nothing drastic. We never get rains this time of year. But it wasn't a heat wave.

I don't know what those trees are (just picked the nicest looking from Home Depot). One is maybe maple or oak (the one with a sole live leaf). And the other one was cut so branches fall of the middle to the ground like long hair. I think it bloomed pink or white this spring.

Try some pictures. We can id the trees and see what state they're in.

as long as they are properly watered.. and the roots survive ... there is no reason they should die ...

its no worse than a hailstorm denuding a tree.. this time of year ... they usually will releaf ...

and i really dont understand .. if properly deeply watered ... how 3 week without watering.. would do this.. so i wonder if there isnt something else going on .. are they properly mulched ???

i suppose it might be what you mean by watering them deeply ???

needs some pix ....

if you resume proper.. DEEP watering ... then all thats left.. is to keep it up for 4 to 6 weeks... to see if they releaf ... or whatever happens... nothing happens fast.. in the tree world ...

ken

see watering here: https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

ps: its also weird.. that this happened across a number of different plants ... you wouldnt expect such a uniform response ....

It's our vacation house. Went there today specifically to snap pictures, ended up watering everything, even the healthier trees' leaves keep pickling even though I watered them just 3 days ago. Got distracted by talking to the neighbor and left without taking pictures /facepalm

I think the tree that shows no signs of life is the weeping cherry. What concerns me is that the fresh branch shoots are kind of brown looking, I thought they need to be gray or green if healthy.

The other almost dead tree now has at least 3-4 green leaves, I think it will be ok. The other tree that lost most of the leaves now has the bottom half perky green leaves.

Anyone knows about weeping cherries? What color their branch shoots usually are? Green/brown?

Now I read online that weeping cherries have a high failure rate, and they don't need watering and don't like deep watering. I certainly did water them plenty, every 2-3 days. Oh boy. You water them, they die, you don't water them, they die.

Oh well, what can I do.

I planted a tree last year, and i water it every day it's 80 degrees and there's no rain. Otherwise I water it 2-3 times a week. Going 3 weeks without watering trees, or any plants planted last year was a very bad idea, they need regular watering the first few years to stay alive no matter what the temperature is. Good luck.

My guess is that you over watered before you left that is an much more likely than them dying after three weeks of no water

Also watering is somewhat species dependent in addition to soil/precip/weather dependent.. For example in ILMT example above I might do that for a Katsura in well drained soil. For a red oak planted a year ago I wouldn't water it for weeks at a time unless temps warrant it.

Depending on the species and soil type it's totally possible that the trees could have dried out and gone into a state of dormancy (or worse) in your climate in only three weeks. Depending on your exact location and elevation, too, Eastern WA is extremely dry and arid where evapotranspiration is extremely high. IMO it's totally possible that a new tree could become stressed in only three weeks. Some summers here if I were to not water a new planting for three weeks it might be toast if it is in full sun with no mulch.

People who don't live in the arid intermountain west just don't understand the level that plants depend on irrigation. It's recommended that I put like 15-20 inches of water on my lawn a month in the summer to keep it green. People move here from back east and never water anything and wonder why everything is brown and dead lol.

Anyway the only way to tell is to examine the soil and see how wet it is. This is super important and will help you hone your watering schedule to make sure your trees are getting the perfect amount of water. What kind of trees are they if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks for posting that, L Clark. It is true that few who do not live here have any idea about the climate. Ea. WA state is extremely dry - it is mostly high desert and annual rainfall is very low. About the same as Tucson, AZ!! Ongoing irrigation for anything other than an established native plant - and sagebrush/tumbleweeds are not much of a garden draw - is an absolute requirement. It is entirely possible that trees that are only one year in the ground could be toast in 3 weeks without supplemental irrigation.