Planted this Bur oak last spring and have babied it. Last summer, within this same 3 week window we're in now, its leaves browned and most of them dropped. Some were replaced but the canopy was much lighter. No dead branches.

It browned in early July and dropped a few but was ok so I thought, "cool, it's getting better acclimated". Then bam, I go out of town for work for 3 days and come back to this.

It gets 30 minutes a week on a bubbler. Can probably see that at the base. I gave it a deep and long water hose soak last night.

Leaves don't look like blight.

What say ye local arborists? Expect another drop and push?

DFW area AKA hells inferno right now.

Yeah I was hoping we were out of the woods, for lack of a better phrase, with this being the 2nd year. It came from a tree farm down the road.

Funny thing is I have another one planted about 80' from this one and it didn't bat an eye last year. However, it is now dropped some too. Not like this though.

Did that last night. Put hose with "soaker" setting on the handle around the base and moved it a few times. I bet it ran for 45 minutes.

My Mexican sycamore doesn't have a bubbler on it and it seems to be doing just fine.

I have a chinese pistache that was planted back in November. This is its first summer and it lost a small handful of leaves but overall is getting through this heat quite well (also in DFW). I'm watering 4x per week right now. Full soaking with a hose each time.

You're not watering enough, even for a tree in its second year.

you need to get a moisture meter to figure out your irrigation demand. they should be less than $20. make sure you are soaking the root zone (near edge of tree canopy) and not just right around base of tree.

Do the leaves drop if you shake the tree? If not, probably dead. 30 minutes on a bubbler = lots of run off. A couple times a week with two start times an hour apart, and 8ish minutes would be my recommendation.

It'll go from fully green to dead in 3 days? Damn. Aren't these supposed to be native to this area?

I'll check tomorrow. That has me worried as the leaves aren't dropping quite yet.

Some still have a green tint to them so maybe we're still in the middle of this.

I doubt there's any runoff. I've got a good mulch ring, it's level and I don't ever see any runoff.

More hand watering incoming for it though.

In the future a 25' soaker hose circled around a tree a couple of times will serve you well.

Burr oaks like some moist soils, so "native to the area" doesn't mean that it can grow in any type of soil anywhere in the region, **** fill clay for lots (which is most likely what's there) in a neighborhood. It's the unfortunate part of being in a nice hood.

You got live oaks that'll grow there though.

It may be ok but your watering definitely needs to increase for it to thrive. If it dies, and you want to replant, when you plant the tree the home should be about 3x the size of the dirt plug around the roots if not bigger. That hole should be filled in with other soil material than what's taken out, unless you're interested in a similar situation again.

It's really why REALLY good tree planting is very expensive. It's not two dudes digging a hole and throwing a poorly root bound tree into the hole then back filling.

A tree that size to get properly planted will probably be 2-3k if not more. It can certainly be done cheaper, but that doesn't mean it'll be better (nor does it mean you won't have problems with the more expensive option).

Sorry not more helpful.

Morning update. Ran the bubbler for 45 minutes yesterday evening. 30 mins this morning around 6am and just got done with about a 30 minute hand watering with the hose.

Ground is soaked and the mulch ring even has some standing water in it. Should be good to go for a day or so.

Shook the tree and a few leaves came out. Easy to pluck off on some.

Base of leaves still green. Fingernail scratched many small branches and still very soft and green. This baby is alive - just not enjoying the heat, wind and sudden drought conditions we have.

I now realized we had some irrigation work done last Friday and they turned the controller to off. The bubbler zone goes on Sunday so he didn't get his drink this past weekend and then promptly spit the bit on Tuesday.

FWIW, and I know people say this doesn't do anything but 30-45 minutes with a bubbler, and at least 50 minutes from pop up sprinklers isn't something to thumb your nose at. Where it sits in that popup zone, it's probably getting water from 5 different heads.

Either way, I'll keep drenching this sucker. He just seems to be the weaker of the two. His brother across the yard is kicking just fine.

I'll say, I've been VERY impressed with the Mexican sycamore planted in between them on no bubbler.

I also have a Monterrey oak in the back yard planted at the same time. That thing hasn't shrugged at any of this.

OnlyForNow said:

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Burr oaks like some moist soils, so "native to the area" doesn't mean that it can grow in any type of soil anywhere in the region, **** fill clay for lots (which is most likely what's there) in a neighborhood. It's the unfortunate part of being in a nice hood.

You got live oaks that'll grow there though.

It may be ok but your watering definitely needs to increase for it to thrive. If it dies, and you want to replant, when you plant the tree the home should be about 3x the size of the dirt plug around the roots if not bigger. That hole should be filled in with other soil material than what's taken out, unless you're interested in a similar situation again.

It's really why REALLY good tree planting is very expensive. It's not two dudes digging a hole and throwing a poorly root bound tree into the hole then back filling.

A tree that size to get properly planted will probably be 2-3k if not more. It can certainly be done cheaper, but that doesn't mean it'll be better (nor does it mean you won't have problems with the more expensive option).

Sorry not more helpful.

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Thanks for advice and agreed. There were burr oaks there before and were terrible specimens. Builder put them in (I paid extra) and then the 2021 freeze killed the main branches and they never looked good.

I had them removed and they were in those metal ball cages. Trash nursery.

Replanted with Treeland in Gunter. Very good specimens. They dig a large hole and I had backfilled with better material.
You can also see I had the "volcano" rings dug down where the sod was removed and tree is at grade with mulch around its base.

This tree has just been more susceptible to the heat and sun. It gets full exposure and a lot of southern wind.

I was hoping in year 2, he'd be a little more stout but I'll continue to nurse him along.

When I drive through "builder home" neighborhoods, the kind where every house gets two 50g trees planted in the front yard, it takes about 5 years before those new trees are safe from needing supplemental watering. New trees, especially big container grown specimens, need water for years before being established.

Drought over the last 5 years has wrecked a lot of tree plantings in builder neighborhoods.

Sunday update:

About 1/2 the leaves have now dropped. I expect the rest will be gone today with a decent breeze. 107* incoming.

Bought a soaker hose from the depot and will get it going later today.

That's good news!

A tree dropping leaves is still alive and trying to survive.

ChoppinDs40 said:

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I also have a Monterrey oak in the back yard planted at the same time. That thing hasn't shrugged at any of this.

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The extreme freezes in recent years have killed a lot of those. Even some fairly large ones.

Swamp white oak, despite it's name, also does pretty well around here.

Well done. Please give us an annual update with pics.

I've got it flagged. Buds not pushing yet. I bet he's just waiting for some heat relief. Soaker hose again today for about 2 hours. Ground soaked.

Good golly we need rain. This heat with constant wind is nuking everything.

I've had my 25' soaker hose going since 8am this morning.

Wind… you've got wind? What's wind?

OnlyForNow said:

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Wind… you've got wind? What's wind?

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Walking outside has been like walking into a hair dryer on full blast the last month.

Apache said:

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Glad to see your tree has rebounded. Some other thoughts:

Pull the stakes off that tree this winter, your tree should be rooted well enough now it doesn't need them.
Trees that move in the wind grow a stronger trunk & better stabilizer roots.

I'd also recommend capping off that bubbler, or maybe changing it to a short radius spray head to encourage roots to spread out more.

Trees, like children, need to learn how to survive on their own after a while in order to become strong.

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That hole should be filled in with other soil material than what's taken out, unless you're interested in a similar situation again.

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I'm sorry but this is bad advice & I have to call it out. Use the same soil that was excavated. Using new nutrient rich soil will encourage the tree roots to stay right there & not expand into the surrounding soil (just like having a bubbler head too long) I do agree with the width of the hole being 2-3x the size of the root ball.

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That's a good idea - I'll look into this.

Yup, I always read 2 growing seasons then take the training wheels off. Those straps were coming off pretty soon.

I just hope this one gets better rooted. Strange that I have one from the same farm 90' away and it's still got a full canopy of leaves at the moment, on the same bubbler zone.

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Strange that I have one from the same farm 90' away and it's still got a full canopy of leaves at the moment, on the same bubbler zone.

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So many variables & they compound to make a difference.
How much natural runoff does the tree get? Does the neighbor's sprinkler hit one tree and not another? Are the roots shaded? How are the existing soil conditions? Is one spot windier than another? Was the tree root bound when planted? etc. etc.

All of these reasons (and more) are why I hate planting trees and even shrubs in rows. Invariably they'll grow at different rates and start to look out of whack. Then one dies 3 years later & it requires buying a plant that looks roughly the same size as the others are today which always costs more than the original plant & sometimes is impossible to source. Good times!

Apache,

I'll take your tree advice over mine. Is there any situation when the fill material for residential lots is a worse choice than something else you could put back into the hole?

I was thinking of giving the tree the best chance with better suited soil - you're absolutely right though that just outside of the excavated area it's going to be tightly compacted clay again.

It could be getting more runoff from neighbor's zone or maybe even the popups in the immediate area.

Same wind exposure (both exposed to the prevailing southern winds).

I think the "better" one gets a little bit more shade/less exposure but honestly that's probably negligible.

Who knows. It has always had a thicker canopy though with some lower handing limbs so maybe it's just done a better job of protecting itself than the other.

*shrug*

My Live Oaks are dominating this stuff but they've been in the ground for 4 and 5 years at this point. The '21 freeze killed one of the builder's and I replaced the following spring.

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Is there any situation when the fill material for residential lots is a worse choice than something else you could put back into the hole?

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For sure.
Key is to check the soil beforehand & know what you're getting into. We've dug out entire yards because the fill material was complete trash. Think caliche/limestone rubble with 3" of sandy loam spread on top.

If someone bought a house in this situation & can't afford to do real remediation, get the tree best adapted to handle the conditions & make the root ball as wide as possible. Would also recommend topdressing annually & doing as much remediation as possible. The builder set everything up for failure, which happens especially on low end tract homes.

Our hood was built in a north Texas clay farm field. And it shows lol.

I wasn't thinking rocks, but I know that builders/developers use CHEAP fill for most lots and it is generally **** dirt to plant much in, hence my suggestion on filling with other material - but I understand your point as well in that while not physically root bound, you're encouraging bad root growth that way.

For reference.

Other bur oak and Mexican sycamore