Hi,

To me it sounds like a combination of things that caused the current
condition of your trees.

B&B trees go through quite a bit of stress to begin with. Even with a
good tree spade there is no way the grower can get a majority of the
root system. So, the root system is compromised to start off. Now, if
you planted these trees in warm or hot weather this will cause further
stress. Best time to plant in most locales is early spring after last
frost or early fall before snow or frost.

Too little water in the beginning of the planting. The trees probably
needed more frequent waterings during the first week or two. A once or
twice a week deep watering was not enough. Remember that the roots are
shallow at the moment until they grow and spread. The top layer of
soil dries out quicker as water is pulled down deeper in the soil by
gravity. I'll bet that with only a once or twice a week watering the
compromised root system dried out.

Mixing in any kind of fertilizer in the planting hole, especially a
high nitrogen synthetic fert. like Vigoro, was a HUGE mistake. This
should never have been done. The last thing that a stressed plant
needs is nitrogen. The high nitrogen coupled with the salts in the
Vigoro fertilizer most likely burned the roots, causing the roots to
die back instead of grow...the opposite of what would've been ideal.
Either no fertilizer or a LITTLE 0-5-5 or 0-10-10 with some kelp
extract would've been better.

Hope this helps,

Layne

On 24 Apr 2006 09:58:31 -0700, "Doctrupp" wrote:

Hello,
I'm currently trying to revive my pathetic looking Kwanzan Cherries.
I bought eight 20 foot tall trees last year. They were balled and
burlaped. They looked OK at first, but when we planted them,
gradually, many branches began dying off on almost all of them. One of
the trees gave up last August in the heat and just died. This year, a
few sparse branches are blooming on each and one just has shoots that
are flowering. I've fertilized the soil prior to planting and every
3-4 months with a long term fertilizer for flowering trees. I've
pruned the trees this year following instructions from a pruning book
for flowering trees. What can I do outside of regular watering and
fertilizing to keep the rest of these trees from dying. I'd like for
them to look like thick blooming cherries next year?