where are you..

how do you water it???

its stressed.. not hungry.. no fert ...

was it potted.. or BB??... how was it planted???

what is the native soil ... what was the weather since planting ... drought. etc?... the pond sure seems down..

ken

It has irrigation 3x week plus, at this point, daily rain from Central Florida rain showers (that's the location too...Orlando). It has a direct irrigation line.

The landscaper planted it, so it was "professionally" done...

Native soil is sandy, but does reasonably well (and other willows do fine, particularly near water).

Most of the damage done to the plant seemed to have been done before we got it (like I said I pointed out dead branches when it arrived but was kind of pooh-poohed). We did have a drought through May, but it has direct irrigation and I kept supplementing that irrigation several times a week with a hose (I know willows like a lot of water).

The mulch shouldn't touch the trunk, and the ring should be widened. Remove all branches without leaves, keep it watered, replace if it doesn't recover.

What about those lower sprouts...should I leave those or trim them. Not sure if trimming them encourages more growth up top or just kills the tree faster...

I would leave them for now, because they are making food for the tree, which will help it during establishment. By next year, after the canopy starts growing, you can go ahead and remove the sprouts. But, if they really bother you, removing them won't kill the tree, but it will probably send up more sprouts.

Oh they don't bother me...just trying to figure out what's best. So you figure it's salvageable? I'll keep it well-watered and deal with the mulch around the base.

dig a few holes with a hand trowel ..... AND FIND OUT if your irrigation.. is getting water down into the roots planted ...

lawn irrigation is rarely sufficient for newly planted trees ...

you are kind of guessing at this point ... as far as i can read between the lines ...

ken

Yeah, fair enough. As I mentioned it actually has it's own dedicated bubbler (I'm sure that's not the proper word)...but I'll check to make sure if the water is getting deep enough.

I'm guessing it has a drip line, but I've never dealt with irrigation/lawn sprinkler systems. It is salvageable. I would also extend the mulch ring, you can get mulch pretty cheap at walmart (don't buy the died kind). It looks like it had a rough year when it was planted, and is trying to recuperate. I had some transplants last year that looked pretty rough, but they pulled through and are doing wonderful.

What Logan said. Transplant shock. Willows grow pretty fast, it should recover, give it a year or two. It could have a disease but I can't see tell tale signs of anything in particular.

Ok, thank you everyone. I will take the advice offered and keep fingers crossed. Just gave it a good watering (it's a rare day in Orlando no rain is predicted.)