Hello,

I had a river birch planted four days ago. When purchased (and when planted) it had a good set of green leaves and appeared healthy.

In the last couple of days many of the leaves have begun to turn yellow. This seems to have happened very rapidly. The yellow leaves seem to be spread fairly evenly on the tree and are intermixed with green ones on the same branches.

The soil in which the tree was planted is very moist, due to the hurricane last week. However, it has not rained much at all since then (a sprinkling) and it is not marshy around the tree.

However, getting water to the tree is a problem as it is not within range of a hose. I applied one gator bag to the tree the day after planting, but it did not get soaked immediately upon planting.

The only thing I can think of is that either 1) the yellow leaves are normal coming off of the hot summer, as many of my other trees have been dropping yellow leaves or 2) there was a problem with transport or planting that is indicative of a more serious problem.

Given how surprisingly fast this has happened, I'm hoping for #1 but afraid #2 could mean I don't have much hope.

What should I do for it? The soil seems very wet, so I'm afraid to over-water.

-Al

You are not in my area but I think tree planting is about the same all over..
Did you dig a 'big ugly hole' to plant it in? Did you make sure the root ball was soaked when it went in the hole? Did you back fill w/existing soil? Did you make sure it was not too deep, i.e. is there a good root flare?
If you lived in the Dallas Ft Worth area I'd tell you the tree was suffering from heat & drought & transplant shock. But perhaps it's just the trransplanting? Also, is that type of tree suited to your area?

Thats all I can think of...the 'tree dude' or 'the ent' should chime in.

Patty

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Plano Patty & Jim

Hi Patty,

Thanks for the message.

I don't think that the root ball was soaked when it was put in because there were no hoses accessible. I gave it a gator bag the day after it went in although only half of the water seemed to drain normally because of the slope of the way it is planted (needed the flat gator bag because the lower branches are very low), I had to pour the rest of the water over the top to clear out the bag (which I know is a lot less effective). I do know that the soil around it should have been quite moist, as the hurricane had just passed and even now the soil is moist at the surface.

I believe that it is planted properly depth wise -- I made sure they planted it fairly high, having experienced deep plantings with our last landscaper -- and they did use local soil plus amendments.

I think I'll run another gator bag out to it today and see if I can get a bucket of water on it too -- in case the root ball is simply very dry.

-Al

I'd also water a birch of any sort a tad more than most trees when it's recently planted.

They're thirsty trees.

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Shepherd of the Trees
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields we know so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.