is there a warranty ????

how big is it ...

you have sublime hearing to hear what you did ...

how about a pic ...

ken

I'll grab a pic after work. There is a one year guarantee but you must take the tree in, dead, with the receipt. I've no idea where the receipt went, and if it is possible to save the tree I'd like to try before just giving up.

We live out in the country and were putting them in on a peaceful Sunday afternoon so it was pretty much dead quiet out here. Tree is about 6.5' tall, 1" trunk diameter.

You did everything perfect. That rootball crumbling isn't your fault.

Do you consider yourself accomplished at pruning? You'd need to provide a balance to what the roots can and cannot do at this place in the game. You'd be thinning your canopy as to ease stress on the root system. Removal of perhaps 1/3 of the canopy wood.

If it doesn't rebound, then you lost too much root.

A warranty would be nice to exercise, later.

Dax

Thank you gardener356. I wouldn't say I'm accomplished at pruning, but I've done it - a couple rose bushes and an ornamental shrub, and they didn't die :-). I've got some nice sharp Fiskars bypass hand shears.

I had actually thought that maybe cutting some branches back and letting the tree focus energy on root regeneration and a smaller canopy might be a good idea, but wasn't sure how much to remove. I think I'd want to leave denser areas of foliage as intact as possible, so it can absorb sunlight, and try to primarily trim off sparsely-leaved branches. Though at this point, they're generally pretty sparse, so I'm not sure what to do. I'll get some pics up shortly.

A crumbling root ball isn't necessarily fatal. When the dirt fell apart, were there still roots left over sticking out of the enlarged root ball? If yes, it can probably regrow the fine roots fairly quickly.

If you aren't accomplished at pruning...I wouldn't. There is a difference of opinion among experts as to whether "balancing out" top and bottom growth helps. And lots of ways to botch pruning.

Do nothing for now. When the inevitable summer drought hits, water it thoroughly. Revisit this issue in August and next May.

Pruning a weeping cherry can just end up a disaster. I wouldn't cut it back at all. You could destroy its form. Just water it well and cross your fingers. If any branches do eventually die then they can be removed.

Please forgive me for not mulching yet...we're going to be putting a limestone ring around each tree and didn't want mulch in the way.

Here is the healthy one:

And a couple of the sad one:

Cherries don't like sitting in water at all. Arbitrary top pruning at planting time slows establishment by reducing the surface area of the top. Energy supplied by the top is what fuels the growth of new roots.

I'll nod to Embothrium. He's more intelligent that me.

I'll change my theory of surface area.

Best,

Dax

Of course it doesn't want to sit in water. But a newly planted tree needs a good watering to start it off. Apart from providing moisture it settles the soil around the roots. There was no implication that it should be overwatered.

There is a very large and significant difference between the soil around the roots crumbling away and roots themselves detaching from the plant. If I am reading the original post correctly, it is the latter that happened. If that is indeed the case, recovery of the tree is really doubtful. With only one large root remaining and the tree unable to take up water, it is, sorry to say, pretty much dead already. Whether a warranty will cover an accidental error while planting an otherwise healthy tree is another question entirely.

akamainegrower, you are correct. It was not just the soil, I heard the tearing of roots.

to clarify on the water situation, I watered the trees in as I was back filling, specifically to settle the soil. But there's not much a guy can do to stop over 7 inches of rain falling in the next two weeks. And the other tree is fine and obviously got the same amount.

I'm also not too overly worried about ruining the form of the tree if the alternative is a dead tree.

However, despite all of that, it seems I don't have any options other than making sure I keep it watered (to a healthy degree), and waiting to see if it pulls through. If I prune anything, I reduce ability to take in solar energy. If I don't, some limbs may die, but can cut them back later.

Thanks for the input!

Top=pruning to so-called "balance out" root loss at transplant is an idea whose time has come and gone. To expand on what Embo said, it is growth hormones produced in growing tips that send chemical signals to the roots to expand. Losing foliage at time of transplant only adds to stress on the plant, not lessens it.

Now about those "fine roots" everyone seems so worried about; These are not at all permanent features of any root system-they come and go numerous times during the course of a single growing season. Trees can lose every "fine root" and be just fine, by doing what they would be doing anyway-making new ones!

My crabapple's root ball broke in half! It was in very heavy soil. Will it survive?