I'm a westerner so someone may come along and correct me, but you may want to find time to send in a sample to the Co Extension (the state PSU website seems to be FUBARed today so I can't look), but that seems like mid-onset Bacterial Leaf Scorch symptoms from here. Also see some environmental stress as well. If BLS, no cure, but again I'm a westerner. Dan

Thanks for your comments, Dan. The redwoods are getting drip irrigated all summer. My husband set up the drip to come on the same time he is watering (by hose) his vegetable garden. He said there are no drip spouts under the oaks. The redwoods look pretty good given our warm summers with no rain. We planted them about 20 years ago when the property behind us (at a higher elevation) got developed with new homes. The trees have given us exactly the privacy we want, and without much mess. Now if only I were able to get them to stop growing any taller, as they are perfect right now! I did not expect to live in this house this long. So, both the oaks and the redwoods look reasonably happy and pretty healthy. Not much of the soil under the driplines is being tilled. That is interesting about the oak tree having a chemical that signals the leaf drop------I guess a lot of leaves got the message all at once. My husband constructed a large raised vegetable bed about 20' from the trees, and no other trees are nearby. Within 3 years he found the bed full of fine roots. Apparently the redwoods were enjoying his watering more than the vegetables could, and he tore the bed down this last spring. But, the nearby redwoods look the happiest of all!

You should look up how to grow peach trees anyway because they do have certain limitations and needs that are likely to come up (sounds like already you have found you are going to have to identify and install some way to keep the squirrels off at fruiting time - and may be seeing a disease problem developing). If you are in the US the web site of the USDA Cooperative Extension Service should have information or links (search "[name of your State] extension").

Better late than never - thanks mntreegrower! That was the nursery's first impression as well, but nobody came down firmly on any sort of conclusions. It still looks awful but thankfully the nursery has yielded and actually honored its guarantee(!), albeit making an 'exception' for me (signs of life). I think this thread helped - I sent it to them to show I had tried everything I could think of to determine what was happening. I'm going to get this one removed and replaced, but next spring. This time, I'm not going for a large translpant (this was a 70mm, or 2 3/4" diameter tree, so a relatively big one), but a more medium sized one (I'm thinking 40mm or 1 3/5" diameter), as the sound advice here seems to be: If you absolutely can't wait the 10-15 years to grow from seed, get a small(ish) transplant. I'm also planting it next spring, probably in March/April, before it leaves out for the summer. Obviously, I'm going to go all Sherlock Holmes on it and inspect the trunk of the new tree like nobody's business for signs of borer or mildew or anything else damage, but any other tips on what I should look for/avoid based on the damage that was very likely present in this tree before I picked it out?