Transplant shock - should I worry?

[bob_wfmc]

Hello - newbie here trying to better educate myself on what can be done to deal with what I suspect is transplant shock of my new trees.

Background - We had three trees planted 1 week ago (we live in Zone 4b - SE Minnesota) and these included a balled and burlapped river birch, and tree spaded Whitespire birch, and a balled and burlapped blaze maple. The blaze maple was planted flush with the ground whereas the birch trees were planted 8 inches above ground with a 4-5 foot diameter mound of soil (these will be elevated in a berm garden). The soil contains a fair amount of clay. The blaze maple is the largest with a trunk diameter of 4 inches and a height of 20 feet. The birch trees are both 15 feet tall. Upon planting, the blaze maple foliage was already bright red but had a full complement of leaves. The birch trees had green to yellow-green foliage. Within 3 days of planting, the blaze maple had lost 70% of foliage and lost 99% by 1 week. The birch trees seem to have also experienced some shock with the river birch losing 40% of its' foliage after 1 week, whereas the whitespire foliage is wilted (on the bottom half of the tree) but it has not lost more than 5-10% of foliage.

Questions for the experts:

1. I assume this is transplant shock? Trees are loosing their foliage around this part of the country now but other blaze maples in the neighborhood are still holding on to their foliage. We did have an unseasonably hot spell the week the trees were planted (highs in the mid 80s) and I suspect this stressed the trees more than usual. Can I do anything this winter to maximize the chances this maple tree will bounce back in the spring? Should I be calling the nursery or is it too soon to tell re: if the tree will survive? Should I do anything to the birch trees to prevent further shock?

2. Watering - so far I watered every other day when it was hot and since it has cooled back down I will water once per week while monitoring the soil moisture beneath the mulch. Is this frequency acceptable?

Thanks for your help,

Bob

 

[ChrisWNY]

My blaze Maples have dropped most of their leaves, and that's in zone 6. I'm assuming you're in zone 5, so the leaf drop is probably on schedule in your case. My River Birch still has most of its foliage, though over the last day or two some leaves have turned yellow and are dropping, I would expect my River Birch to be defoliated within a couple of weeks.

Leaf drop is not always a sign of transplant shock, considering we're well into the Fall season, it's probably nothing to be concerned about at this time, your new trees are most likely simply entering dormancy (that is when those trees *should* have been planted, after they were dormant).

Watering is important if Nature isn't providing the rains for you, but don't over water (especially with all that clay soil) or you will potentially worsen any transplant shock.

Next Spring will give you an indication of how those trees are doing. Make sure they are sturdy in the ground or a wind/ice/snow storm could spell disaster for those trees. If they aren't sturdy, consider staking. Staking large trees is not easy but certainly not an insurmountable task. Maples and Birches both have aggressive root systems, so they'll anchor themselves in rather rapidly next Spring.