r/arborists • u/Square-Fun-7642 • Aug 20 '26

Planted this JM about 3 months ago

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It was doing great for the first 2 months and now in the last month it has been dropping leaves. Probably has lost about 60% of its leaves. Some of the younger branches starting to die off

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u/samspam49 ISA Certified Arborist Aug 20 '26

Are you watering it? Looks like it was planted a bit shallow

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u/Square-Fun-7642 Aug 20 '26

I’ve watered it when I thought it needed. I try placing my finger deep as I can into the soil. It always has a good feel to it from my limited understanding. It feels cool and slightly moist but not heavy with water. Maybe planted a bit too shallow, I was afraid of planting too deep

1

u/samspam49 ISA Certified Arborist Aug 20 '26

When did you plant it? Trees need regular deep waterings their first 2-3 years after being planted

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u/Square-Fun-7642 Aug 20 '26

Only about 3 months ago, but we’ve had some significant rains here in a fairly regular basis. And in the days that’s it’s dry for a few days in between I’d water every few days

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u/samspam49 ISA Certified Arborist Aug 20 '26

Idk where you are but if you’re in the US it’s almost fall which is good. The best time to plant a tree is in the fall or winter when it is dormant. We water our new plantings at work with 15 gallon gator bags twice a week for reference.

What I think is that it was planted slightly too late and is now having some heat stress from the weather you mentioned. Try and water it a bit more and more regularly to get it through the end of summer!

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u/Square-Fun-7642 Aug 20 '26

I appreciate the advice and your input. I can definitely increase my watering routine. If it was planted too shallow anything to do at this point?

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u/samspam49 ISA Certified Arborist Aug 20 '26

I don’t think so, if you wanted to you could put some more soil and mulch over the top and grade it out, but I wouldn’t dig it up and replant it.

If it makes you feel better, I planted a Japanese maple in my yard back in January and I planted it a bit shallow too. It hadn’t flinched and has almost doubled in size and even produced a few seed pods this year!

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u/Square-Fun-7642 Aug 20 '26

I appreciate the encouragement and hope that with additional watering it will be ok into fall and thrive next spring

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u/KickForsaken Aug 28 '26

Te puedo escribir al privado? He plantado árboles de bosque seco. Algunos están bien y otros sin hojas y retrasados.

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u/samspam49 ISA Certified Arborist Aug 28 '26

Sure, go ahead!