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New Amelanchier not happy

gilla.walmsleygilla.walmsley Posts: 339
in Problem solving
I invested this week in two mature tress for my garden from a reputable local tree nursery, which were planted by them on Monday. One is a Cockspur Thorn and the other (a few metres away) is an Amelanchier. I was obviously nervous about the heatwave and gave them plenty of water. The Cockspur is fine but the Amelanchier is looking very sorry for itself. Not so much the curling or drooping which you might expect when transplanting, but all of the leaves are suddenly covered in brown spots / stains and turning yellow. Am I under watering? Over? I have stony soil here so relatively free draining and dry, so I do tend to water more than you would on clay. I've watered it with the hose every day since Monday purely because of the 40 degree heat! Any/all advice gratefully welcomed!


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  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    Have you contacted the nursery and sent them the photos? 
    Do you know roughly how much water you've been giving them ? It can be very difficult to judge the amount when using a hosepipe .
  • gilla.walmsleygilla.walmsley Posts: 339
    Hello Annie, thanks for the reply. Yes I have been in contact with the nursery, they've not really said anything except "measure the amount you water" (which might have been useful to tell me beforehand). In retrospect I wish they hadn't delivered on Monday as it was hardly a normal weather day to be able to judge the amount i should be watering. I can't imagine that it is under watering because I've been quite diligent about it - I've done it every day for about 30 seconds? I can only think that I'm killing it with love which more often than not tends to be the case with me and plants! Having said that my garden is extremely hot and the soil very dry, so I really don't know. This morning the whole tree is turning yellow and brown, I'm gutted :( . Sorry I can't work out how to rotate the pics!


  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    gilla.walmsley said:
     I can't imagine that it is under watering because I've been quite diligent about it - I've done it every day for about 30 seconds? I can only think that I'm killing it with love which more often than not tends to be the case with me and plants! 


    I have a few recently planted trees, and they get 20mins each with the hose when it is really hot, and a watering can of 2 gallons direct to the rootball twice a week from Spring to Autumn unless there has been heavy rain. My garden is very well drained though.
    Sunny Dundee
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199


    If your garden is hot and dry then I would say that 30 secs watering isn't enough. It looks like lack of water stress now. 
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I would be giving it a minimum of a watering can (10 litres) at least once a week, even in "normal" summer weather.
    I have very little experience of watering newly planted trees, so found this. 
    https://www.barcham.co.uk/guides-advice/how-much-to-water-newly-planted-trees/

    Re the photos, it's a long standing forum glitch. If you edit the photo and make it smaller before posting, they then post the right way round 🙂.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I've been watering my established amelanchier for at least half an hour every other day for the past couple of weeks.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    We have two amelanchiers planted four years ago and we are are still watering them in the summer.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Try watering the amount you water the amelanchier into a watering can and see how full it gets. I give my new amelanchier a can full twice a week, but I have clay soil.

    I think the leaves look sunburnt. You can't help that if it's in the sun.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    I agree, about running the  hose into a can, to judge how much you are giving the plant.  A lot depends on how good your water pressure is as to how long it will take,  but 30 secs will only be  about 4-5 litres (1gal).  As others have said that is nowhere near enough. I am astonished the nursery thought it was OK to plant now given the heat, I would have kept it in the shade ( and heavily watered) till the temperature returned to normal.   Did they put a thick mulch on the soil round the tree ? If not you should do that too so the water you give will not jut evaporate away. 
    AB Still learning

  • gilla.walmsleygilla.walmsley Posts: 339
    edited July 2022
    Thanks everyone for the advice - it's so upsetting not knowing what I'm doing wrong and watching an expensive tree die. The nursery have said 5 litres every other day (would have been helpful if they had told me that in advance...) so I guess that's what I'll go with for now. No, there's no mulch around the base - should I go with bark chippings? The Cockspur is doing fine, as are the other 4 younger trees from last year I planted, that have all been getting the same amount of water. 

    The dirty hands/fingernails are because I was poking my hand in the soil where it was planted  :D 


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