That looks like a serious lack of water, not too much.

The only way to determine adiquate watering is to dig a small hole 4-6 inches into the rootball and feel for moisture.

tj

Thanks. I also tested with a moisture meter and it’s clearly in the moist range.

Now see if the meter is accurate. Be sure to dig into the original rootball and not the surrounding soil.

tj

So if the rootball is less moist than the surrounding area, would that mean the drip ring is in the wrong place? It’s definitely less moist as I go towards the center.

Due to the different makeup of the rootball and the surrounding soil, water can either bounce off or be wicked away from the rootball (or both). The initial waterings are best done with a hose on a slow trickle for a half hour or so and then the rootball checked for saturation.

tj

Yeah, I did that months ago when I planted it and thought it was fine then. I’ll try to do the hose again to see if that helps anything.

I would also suggest that you make sure the rootball is fully hydrated before it is planted. It is very difficult to rehydrated a dry rootball after planting, even with a long slow soaking.

Thanks gardengal48, but it was planted months ago so I can’t really go back and change that. It was also about 500lbs, so fully wetting the rootball would have made it even heavier. I do usually do that with smaller plants that i can lift.

It looks fried to me. Water probably isn't getting deep enough. I put one (1 gal) in 14 years ago and used the hose on a trickle to water it for 2 years about once a week I think, maybe twice in hot summers...don't really remember for sure. It is now 6 feet tall, the trunk is 6 inches and does get some shade 10-1 pm.

Moisture meters don't really measure moisture they measure salt. Stick it in distilled water, it should read dry. I learned that years ago from this website when known as gardenweb.

Check this website, drip is bad for natives. https://www.laspilitas.com/

Once established it won't want any water, you'll need to shut that drip off.

Thanks for the insight, it’s good to know that you watered it deeply for 2yrs! It’s very difficult to find resources for how to care for plants until they become established, or how to know when that happens.

Totally agree that I’ll have to turn off the drip, that was one of the reasons I added the valve. Also, I came across that article AFTER the irrigation was installed. 😞

I’ve since watered it for 1.5 hours on a trickle, and that still wasn’t enough. So doing a lot more this evening, 4 points 1hr each.

You'll know its established when it starts to put out lots of new growth and flowers. The first couple years I only had a 3-4 flowers and it was only a foot tall, I never thought it would get this big. It's at the top of a slope with sprinklers for other plants pointed away from it. But by now surely the roots are getting some water from them.

I had a ceanothus carmel creeper never thought would grow here and it got to be 20 feet wide. I just took it out...too big and was getting too many cankers.