Thanks. I had not heard of them so I will give them a call and see if I can get this figured out.

Are you mulching your trees at all? 4" of mulch will make a world of difference.

Yes, I have been mulching.

One thing I've wondered is if root stocks would do better than containers. I have been planting 15 gallon trees from either Moon Valley or Whitfill Nurseries. Although I still am going to get some professional consultation before I buy any more trees. There has just go to be some cause as it should not be this hard.

Have you get any response from Don yet?

He is the type of specialist focus on having good foundation for plants, such as preparing for soil and right way to plant plants. He is very knowledgable in fruit trees. The plants we purchased from him were all heathy and of high quality.

In the past, before I knew Don, I received "advices" from those nurseries you referred. In spite of following every instruction as they suggested, nothing worked.

I have not received any response from that person but I'd welcome it.

One thing I thought about today is if something could be eating the roots. I have found grubs in my yard before but perhaps 1 or 2 per square feet while digging. I have read that is not a number to be overly concerned about and, since I am not a fan of pesticides, I have not treated. We also have I'm guessing thousands of cicadas in our yard. Which, also obviously arrive in the summer. I don't find them on the fruit trees though, however I'm not sure how the larvae work. I also have about 1/4 inch diameter holes around my yard right now spaced about 1 foot apart. I'm not sure what that is but I may dig some test holes around to see if I find anything.

My fig that appears to be dying right now I'm pretty sure it is not from water stress. It's been slowly dropping leaves and several get a large black region before dropping. I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to save it at this point.

Thanks for responses.

Did you leave Don a message at his phone number? Or send him a message through his Facebook site ? Yes, the fig tree needs help.

I'm not an expert but I've seen a few problems with trees.. Here's a few questions for you that might help:

How long has it been in that spot?

Do you know how deep the root crown is planted?

When you planted it, did you backfill the hole with anything other than native soil?

Are you fertilizing with anything?

The holes in your ground are probably from cicadas coming out. As far as I know they don't cause enough damage to kill a tree, even a very young one.

I generally like to see the root crown sticking out of the ground a little bit when I plant a tree, that way I know it's not too deep. Also, I would probably take the shade down.. Figs generally don't need shade unless it's brand new in the ground and the temperatures are above 115.

The fig was planted last fall. It was doing great until about 2 weeks ago.

Root crown was about level with the soil when I planted it.

I've experimented backfilling with both a 50/50 mix and also just native soil in the fruit trees I've lost. This fig was with native only since I've read research suggesting it may be better.

I've fertilized with the Moon Valley tree fertilizer about 3 times since this spring, approximately once per month or once every other.

I put the shade up a few days ago thinking it may help keep the stress down for whatever is going on.

I called Don. He wasn't very helpful over the phone but directed me to their website, revive.design.com and said they can come out to my house for a fee next week. Thanks again for the reference. I'll likely have them come out after doing some more research. If anyone has any other feedback I'd welcome it.

I avoid fertilizing new trees for their first year, but I don't think that would cause what you're seeing here. It sounds like you're doing everything right with the tree. I'm thinking the only thing left to check would be the soil by doing a soil test for nutrients and harmful things (like salt, etc). I've never done it myself but everyone makes it sound really easy. I usually see people direct others to the Maricopa Extension website for this type of thing.

I don't know if it's just a myth, but I've read about people fixing up their soil just by planting a few annuals that are heavy feeders and take up things from the soil, like any type of cuburbit (pumpkins especially).

Don't fertilize under the heat as we have now - ask how I know it. :-(

Glad you got in touch with Don....Please keep us posted.

WarnersTreeSurgery.com : sick Citrus, all sick trees.. 480-969-8808

Looks Like Salt Damage : gypsum dug into soil may help. or let it dry out, then flood the tree for several hours, hoping salt may run down into the ground more and disperse. Very deep water, when the soil is moret dried out. The humidity we just had for the monsoon season seemed to play a part in burning the leaves. not sure.

He looks like he'll be ok, even if he drops his leaves. He still Looks green. He probably needs more sun too. Alternate dry and flood watering. should work. He'll get new leaves again before winter.

Thanks for the response. Interesting you mentioned the salt damage as our hose/drip irrigation is connected to our water softener (previous owners did it and I haven't had time to correct). Normally, I bypass the water softener since I don't want to use the water softened water for the trees but I just turned it back on before this fig went south. I have turned if off again (bypassed). I figured the SRP irrigation water would wash out any salt added from the intermittent hose/drip watering. I think gypsum may be a good idea.

Also interesting that you said it would get new leaves as it just started budding the last few days. I was happy to see.

When you say alternate between dry and flood watering you mean letting dry out followed by deep watering? That is generally what I do with all the trees.

If this fig comes back that would be great but still doesn't explain my other lost trees I've had over the last 3 years. Thank you for the reference, I will look into them.

One thing that is also of note by the area where I've lost the most nearly planted trees is that they are fairly close to some afghan pine trees. Maybe 15-20 ft away. There is lots of grass in the area where i plant so I assume the pines aren't affecting the soil too much. On my to-do list is to get a soil test done in that area though so I should find out.

Those pics have salt burn. No big deal. It's normal out here. If you have further issues let us know. We have a very fast response time. Have more experience growing edible plants than just about anyone in the valley and theres almost always a simple solution. I noticed a comment recommending gypsum. Use at your own risk. It will also get rid of other nutrients your palnts need and is onyl temporary. The best way to keep salt burn from getting worse is to flood the area or run your irrigation at different times for different frequencies. A smart irrigation controller is going to do this for you. Most irrigation systems go off at the same time every week for the same amount of time. You will get a layer of salt buildup at the depth of the water penetration. It needs to be flushed out a few times a year if it is happening.