Silver Maple

[Boseefuss]

About 2 weeks ago, i planted a 6 or 7 ft. silver maple tree for future shade. I mixed about 1/3 top soil , 1/3 potting soil and 1/3 decomposed cow manure. I dug a hole about 2 and 1/2 ft. deep by the same width and planted the tree in this mixture. I have watered the tree about every other day and now the leaves are turning brown around the edges. Can anyone give me some advice on this ? Also i live in zone 5 at 7000 ft. elevation and need shade trees around my house and wood shop ! The summers here get around 90 to 98 degree's . The winters can get down to minus 20 at night. Any advice is much appreciated !

[backyardgardener]

Does your water drain?* The best time to plant trees are when they are dormant.

*To me your doing everything correctly but it's a little hot to plant a tree.

Backyard

[Newt]

Hi Boseefuss,

I agree with Backyardgardener.* Planting trees in heat over 85*F is tricky and very stressful for the tree.* The leaves could be browning from too much water or they could be scorched from the sun.* You probably don't know where the tree was in the nursery and it may not have received as much sun as it's getting now.* The good thing is that leaves are expendable to a tree to some degree and they will shed them in times of stress.*

It's best not to amend the soil when planting a tree, but to use the native soil.* Most potting soil is not soil at all but peat moss with perlite and synthetic fertilizer added.* Your tree could also be experiencing fertilizer burn, especially since you also added manure. It also sounds like you could be overwatering.* Check these sites to see that you planted at the proper depth and are watering correctly.
http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/pla...ees/f1147w.htm
http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/mulching.aspx
http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/water/az1298/
http://www.watersaver.org/pdfs/FALL_..._FOR_TREES.pdf

If this were my tree, I would dig it up, remove as much of the soil you used as possible and use native soil to plant it.* Here's a helpful video.
http://www.arborday.org/trees/video/howtoplant.cfm

Newt

I'd have to agreee, now is very definately not the time to plant a tree. If it is good stock that has been container grown you might just get away with it, but anything that has been lifted recently and had its roots exposed is very unlikely to survive.

The best you can do is to keep watering and hope. It might even be worth trying to rig up some sort of temporary shade, although if the leaves are dropping its probably too late for this.

As Newt says, don't try to ameliorate the soil in tree planting pits. You can't dig a hole big enough for the mature root plate, so roots are going to have to grow in the soil you've got. If you change the soil, roots tend not to leave the pit. You can also create drainage problems at the interface between your ameliorated soil and the natural ground.

Here's more on planting:
http://www.tree-care.info/advice/planting/planting


Oh, and I'm going to have to disagree with Newt about one thing. If this were my tree no way would I dig it up now. It's had enough of a shock, and enough damage to its root system as it is. It really doesn't need any more.