i would have bought single trunked plants ...

why is it imperative to have singles????

without a pic.. i would speculate.. that i would just trim them up ... and have a grouping like we do with birch trees ...

at the age yours are.. i would suspect.. that you will create a couple hundred sucker plants.. and will spend a lifetime trying to kill them off [like the problems i have with crabapple suckers] ...

so i would work with what you have.. rather than forcing it into another form ...

any chance at a picture????

ken

Presumably this is a purple-leaf plum. If it is a plum that bears purple fruit, little below will change:

1. Exposing cut tissue to air in humid conditions makes a much greater risk for infection, esp in a tree usu fraught with several problems. Much better to purchase a product that only has one trunk so there is no massive corrective pruning that has to take place.

Nonetheless, do not paint the wounds after pruning limbs that were chosen to be removed - the limbs that did not have the characteristics chosen for. Cut at ground level.

2. Surely trees stressed by planting them out at the worst possible time of year shouldn't have their stress increased by pruning. The best time to prune almost any tree is when dormant. Each year, when you get 740 suckers, you'll have to prune them and that should be done sooner rather than later (not when dormant, as suckers are a different situation).

Dan

740?????

exxagerating???

.. or is that based on some scientific study???

ken

ps: i would have though more in the 500's ... lol ..

pps: leave them alone until next year... or winter ....

At 12' really too far along for major structural revision. Should not be wilting, check soil moisture inside rootballs for issues.

You can still hack off 75% of the tissue and hope it will live - it might. You do this when dormant. As for wilting, deep sand will do that to a newly-planted tree planted out at the worst time of year to plant. Presumably it is mulched to help lessen stress.

Dan

Significance of sandiness would be quicker drying of sandy soils. Solution is still monitoring soil moisture where roots are at present time, responding with watering as required. If trees in fine-textured, intact field soil root-balls these may be dry, despite watering due to coarser-textured sandy soil around them having greater attraction for water. If trees not in place long enough for this to have happened may still need deep, penetrating soaking of original soil balls due to them not being stored correctly between grower's field and final planting site, allowed to dry out. Digging (carefully) into soil balls may reveal a shallowly moist outer layer with a larger area of dust-dry soil inside. Larger trees installed on commercial sites in my area are often seen sitting out of the ground, without protection well before planting time, to go into the ground wilted. It seems automated sprinkler irrigation frequently does not readily bring these out of their constant droopiness.

If wilting due to cutting of roots at transplanting solution is still watering. Wilting is always a response to inadequate moisture, even when due to mechanical damage like that caused by borers - the parts above the damaged stem area wilt because their water supply is being cut off.

Thanks for the help.

I water them in the morning and evening every day. I do long, misting spray at ground level. They perk up in the morning but are wilted again in the evening. They must be more susceptible to heat than other trees.

I think theyÂll settle in with frequent watering as the cooler weather will be here in December. I wasnÂt going to prune them now because theyÂre already in shock. IÂm just not sure how to prune them since the stems/trunks all start at the ground and theyÂre so tall.

Thanks again.

Sounds like if you are misting them they are not receiving enough water. They will need many gallons of water each time they are watered. A misting is probably just moistening the surface of the soil then evaporating.

I'm sorry I used the wrong word. I have the hose nozzle adjusted so it is in a wide spray and not a solid stream. I lay the hose on the ground and let it run for about an hour on each tree.

I think they are just in shock from being transplanted. I bought the trees, drove about 25 minutes home, dug the hole and planted the trees before I ever went in the house. They did not sit in the sun, unwatered.

Instead of assuming you are getting them wet all the way through, dig into the original soil balls and look at them. Watering twice a day may even be making them too wet, visual inspection of the insides of the balls would be the way to check for this also. If you find a dank or sodden condition while doing this you should also dig down into the planting holes to see if there is water collecting in the bottoms.

For more on this topic...

Here is a link that might be useful: The Myth of Wilting