Young Nuttall Oak Struggling - Small Leaves & Scarce Foliage

[McWard7]

We bought this tree in April 2017 (its now 8-31-17) and planted it the same day. Im attempting to find why its struggling. The symptoms are dry leaves - some of which are turning brown, but do not fall off on their own. The leaves are all very small (appx 2-3 inches at the most). The leaves are very scarce on the branches. I water it appx 3 times per week, and have since we planted it. The leaves also are quite dry to the touch.

 

[BC WetCoast]

Looks like you have some aphids (or maybe skeletonizers) on the leaves.
When you say you water 3x a week. Do you do a deep water (water on trickle for 3-4 hrs) or just a quick spritz with the hose?
Planting in April, there may be some planting shock as the tree adjusts to its new environment.
It also looks like you volcanoed the mulch around the base of the tree, there shouldn't be anything covering the bark above the root flare.

Il'll let others chime in to make sure these old eyes haven't missed anything.

All in all, the tree doesn't look in that bad a shape, I've seen much worse after planting survive brilliantly.

 

[McWard7]

I leave the hose at a trickle, for hours - sometimes overnight. The oddest thing to me is the scarcity of leaves, and their immature size. One thing Im curious about is the burlap around the root ball, along with some wire that the nursery assured me was supposed to be intact when I planted the tree, that it would quickly decompose. The mulch was only added about a month ago, and these problems have been ongoing. Another possible factor I failed to mention in initial post is that the day I planted it I had a tree crew remove a dead tree which had its stump ground, about 10 feet away from where the hole for this Nuttall was dug. Hopefully the root system isnt negatively impacted by wilt. I havent observed the dead tree before January, because thats when we bought the place. Thank you for the help.

 

[ATH]

1) Overnight watering is too much. How big is the tree (caliper)? Looks to be about 2". That would do well to get about 20-25 gallons twice per week. Should take an hour or two for that much water to slowly soak in.

2) Expose the top and cut off the wire and burlap. Those should NOT be left on. I have found wire girdling 15 year old trees. Most often burlap is all natural fiber and will break down, but I have also found synthetic twine used on the burlap killing trees several years after planting.

2A) How can you know if it is planted at the correct depth if you haven't exposed the top of the root ball? (you can't). Like BCWetCoast said, you should see where the trunk flares out to the roots at ground level.

3) There are definitely some aphids (3rd pic from bottom - still on there) and a leaf-skeletonizer (2nd to last pic - looks like damage that has been done...maybe scarlet oak sawfly based on the last pic, but 2nd to last pic doesn't quite look right) that have impacted the tree. Neither of these look to have done significant damage. I wouldn't be too concerned about either.

 

[McWard7]

The tree is about 2-1/2" and is14-15 feet

 

[BC WetCoast]

The local major wholesale nursery here is adamant that burlap and wire cages should not be removed (and it voids their guarantee). I will unwind the top of the burlap and cut strings if they are going to girdle the tree. Some places use a tying pattern that won't girdle the trees.

I have ground many a stump from healthy and vigorous trees (in a townhouse complex - who knows why they wanted them removed) that had wires from the basket embedded in the root mass.

 

[Perfect Plants Nursery]

Nuttall are relatively easy, could it be a fungus? Be sure to pick those bad leaves off and TRASH THEM. do not throw them on the ground bc if it's a fungus it can spread it . If you need a new nuttall, check out these here: https://myperfectplants.com/product/nuttall-oak/