transplant or shipping shock .. aka stresses ...

you know.. that thing will get 15 feet tall and about 5 wide.. inside a few year???

ken

oops .. water properly .. see link ..

and in tree time.. let it get over it ...

ken

ps: its not hungry .. no fert ... and while your at it.. think about a better site ..

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

Thanks Ken....the nursery did not say it would grow that much and I did describe the size of the space I was going to put it.....

Also, they told me not to remove the burlap (I'm presuming it is natural) before planting. They said just put the whole thing in.

I should probably add that they did say to remove about 2 inches from the top of burlap, which I did. It seems like very hard sand it's root ball is in...

wow.. i would not only find another location for it..

i would also find a better nursery ...

if you plan on coming back often.. please add location to your name on members page ...

do you happen to have the full latin name ... if so.. google it for images of how big it might get ...

ken

.. i am bored.. take any side branch.. or the leader ... track down from the tip .. to where the bark changes ... from the bright blue.. to one year old bark.. if you trace further.. you will see 3 year bark ..

anyway .. the new growth is its annual growth rate .. basically for the rest of your life ... i cant seed the top leader.. but those side ones.. easily look like 8 to 12 inches of growth ... FOREVER .. or until it or you dies.. lol ...

maybe someone can ID it ...

It seems like very hard sand it's root ball is in

Dig it up and take the burlap off, even if there are roots coming through it now, and make sure the original soil ball is moist all the way through after you get it back in the ground. And is kept moist after you refill the hole - you may have to water it carefully and diligently all summer, due to textural differences between the original soil ball and the soil on the planting site causing the original soil ball to shed water into the surrounding soil*. Problems with how movement of water in the soil is affected by changes in soil texture from one component of a planting to another is why you also don't want to plant in amended back-fill or pockets of "planting mix" surrounded by existing soil. Your new tree should be sitting in a hole that was filled with an unmodified natural soil resembling the field soil inside the burlap as much as possible. If instead the hole was filled with a soil that had soil textural amendments like bark, compost or peat added that material should be replaced with the soil native to the site, in its natural (unamended condition) - after you remove the burlap.

*It becoming hotter and drier right after spring plantings is one of the reasons early fall planting of locally cold hardy stock is preferable - at that time of the year weather conditions are becoming more favorable for plant establishment instead of less

Thank you for your comments.

Will it die if the burlap is not removed? The reason I ask is that this thing weighed a ton....I'm a pretty strong guy but I was struggling just to get it to the hole....I can't imagine being able to actually pull if up out of its hole at this point......

I made sure the burlap was removed by at least 4 inches from the top of the root ball (that's as much as I could get)...I poked inside the ball and it seems fairly moist, although we just had a lot of rain yesterday....

I bought one like that but bluish 20 years ago, finally was about 20 ft tall and 8 ft wide when I cut it down last November. The stump was very hard, since then I am limping.

The tree described in the preceding instance was 20 ft. tall after 20 years. So if left in place it might have become about 30 ft. tall after 30 years, and so on, for decades as it was a conifer.

In addition to variations in the influence of planting site conditions on development there's always a time element involved in depictions of growth potential of woody plants. A period of time may often not be stated, with it being fairly common for commercial sources to indicate likely heights after only 10 years of growth from a small size.

I can prune this yes?

They don't take it very well. We had similar put in around a patio and kept pruning them back to the patio line. Eventually you get the under wood no matter how careful you are. We had them all pulled out. The ones we put in our backyard are Moonglow Junipers. Easily have gotten to 15-20 ft tall and 10-12 ft wide in just a few years. We put Skyrocket Junipers out front in a circle driveway but have had to severely prune the sides back to keep access to the driveway. They are closed to 25 ft tall and easily 6 ft wide. They were supposed to be max of 15-20 and 2-3 ft wide. We are just barely able to keep the sides green but will lose the battle in another year or so. If they had been 2-3 ft wide as advertise we would have been fine.

Likely your battle will be lost in a couple of years also and have to take it out. Better if possible to move it now as it will never look good pruned back to the line of your sidewalk. You will also fairly quickly lose access to your hose spigot.

Can your climate accommodate boxwood? That is easy to prune into a confined space.

Update:

Since we've had about 4 inches of rain this month, I hadn't been watering.

The last couple of days have been dry, so today I put the hose to the top of the root ball and it really seemed to soak up the water. I watered for about 15 minutes, and it seemed it could take more.

I guess part of the browning problem is that it hasn't had proper watering.

Should I wait to see if it recovers or should I trim off the brown branches?

Where are you and where did the plant come fro.? Not where you bought it, where it was grown.

Juniper in full sun, yep.

My guess is one of two things. Lack of water...plant a plant in an island in a sea of asphalt and concrete, you can be surprised how fast the soil dries out. Second, there's the west coast flop. If your local conditions are significantly different from where the plant was grown, you can get an induced reaction that is not unlike seedlings improperly hardened off before being put in the sun. Locally, it happens to material shipped in from the west coast, hence, West coast flop.

Check soil moisture before watering. Long, slow trickle better than lots at once.

Thanks Wayne.

Well, I guess I won't have to worry about it getting 15 feet tall....

Just wanted to update this:

It is now august 1st and I have to say the damage hasn't gotten worse.

Do you think it's worth waiting until September and pulling it up to remove the metal/burlap? Chance it could still be saved?