Expert: Jim Hyland - 9/29/2009

Question
I planted a juniper blue point in a corner of my deck about three weeks ago. It is about 3 ft tall. I planted in an area that receives about six hours sun a day. I have watered every couple of days with the exception of last week when I was out of town. On my return the bottom portion of the tree had turned brown.   This is the second tree I have planted of this sort. The last one was in a different location of the yard. It died.  How do I save this one?

Answer
Sounds like the tree is suffering from planting shock. Newly planted trees sometimes loose some of their foliage if the tree is planted during the warmer months. Some lack of water may have added to this shock but do not over water it.  If you have not done so I would mulch around the tree with not more than 3 inches deep of organic mulch (pine straw is good) not piled up on the trunk. This will help hold moisture around the roots. Water with 1 inch of water--place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has  1 inch of water in it stop. Do this every fourth day for a couple of weeks then once a week for a month. By this time the hardwood leaves should have begun or dropping and the tree will not need as much water since it has gone dormant. It should be ok.