OK, thanks!

I was also concerned that I might have planted it too deeply. The layer was originally a bottom branch of the mother, so the cut ended up being a wide but short. When I planted it in the new location I rotated it about 45 degrees upward. The idea was that a little more of the original branch is buried (making it a little more stable) and the leaves are in a better aesthetic position than if they were all near the ground. But now I'm worried that my plan might have backfired and put the roots too far underground

The issue with watering is that my only outdoor spigot is on the OTHER side of the house, so it'll take something like 300' of hose to get there :-O Worse, I have to figure out some way to either run it over cement sidewalks without people tripping on it, or running a more permanent pipe under the sidewalk.

Until I can figure something out, can you suggest how much water I should be giving it daily? Luckily, we have an 80% chance of rain every day this week, but I really don't know how to tell whether it has ENOUGH water.

Rain is not enough for a shrub transplanted in high summer. You need to absolutely saturate the root ball right now. It needs many gallons. I’d start with at least twenty ASAP. Even if that means multiple trips with the watering can. Once the soil is moist it will be easier to keep it so. But, whatever the practical difficulties, it must have water or it will die. Even now I’m not that sanguine about its chances. It’s really desperate already.

I tried to reply twice, but it's just running for a few minutes and then disappearing :-( I'll check back tonight, and if it doesn't show then I'll try a third time...

The roots from the big tree to the left are taking all the water from the poor thing. I would be tempted to put it in a big nursery pot with potting soil and put next to the hose until fall. Plunge the pot in a bucket of water and let soak for a couple of hours then pull out and let drain. Repeat until you see improvement. Make sure it stays in the shade.

Next time move in mid to late fall. Rain is usually never enough.

ETA: Don't let it stay in the bucket of water or you will drown the roots.

This is the post I was trying to make before, without the pics in case they're what's causing it to time out?

****

I just now watered the roots with 20G of water (ten 2G jugs with sprinkler type heads, with 2-3 minutes between every 4 gallons while I filled up). It rained for about 15 minutes and it's been overcast all day, so I didn't water the leaves... just the roots.

It still has a lot of soft green wood (pics below), so I HOPE it isn't too far gone :-(

What do you think going forward, 8-10G /day in addition to rain? If it doesn't rain, should I pour 2G over the leaves, too? Or just focus on the roots?

Should I remove the brown leaves? What about branches with no green on them?

This is only my second time with a transplanted layer... the first one didn't have any real problems at all, I just gave it 2G once a week! But it hasn't bloomed yet, so while the leaves look OK I don't know "for sure" that it's healthy. And the first ones that I planted (bought from a store) were back when I had more money than sense, so I doubt that I even watered them that much! This is my first experience with one that's not getting enough water, so I really appreciate the advice.

@Sherry8aNorthAL, thanks for the advice! I just checked, the tree you see is just under 10' from the root of my new rhodo. Do you still think it's too close? The originals had similar trees a little closer than that, so I thought it'd be OK.

I was actually planning to plant a fruit tree or crape myrtle nearby, then in a few years I'd remove the tree you see altogether. Right now it provides most of the shade for the rhodo from 2pm until around 5 or 6pm, so if I remove it now then it would be in direct sun for 6 or 7 hours every day! But I'd love to remove it... my well pump is in the same area, and my long term goal is to clear this whole area and make a nice shade / part shade garden that incorporates the well pump.

I'm going to water it like crazy for the next week, and if I don't see any improvement then I'll definitely consider buying a large pot next weekend. One the size I need is going to be pretty expensive, but I can always use it in the future.

There’s no need to water the leaves they can’t absorb water. Give it all to the roots. With enough water rhododendrons grow perfectly well under trees. Btw the shrub next to it looks dry too.

The tree is established the new plant is not. Make a little berm on the low side of the bushes so the water has a chance to soak in.

I made a small berm today with river rock, plastic, and scooting the mulch out of the way. And I'm going to try 8G of water /day to see how it goes.

I noticed while moving the mulch, though, that there ARE mole tunnels all around the roots. Voles have used the mole tunnels to eat some of my hostas this year already, do you think they could be eating my rhodo's roots?

Update with more questions...

I've been watering with 4 gallons /day, but haven't seen any improvement. Comparing to the picture from 24 days ago, I can see that there are fewer green leaves, and a lot of the brown leaves have dropped.

I'm quite positive that moles and voles are the culprit; I've seen the tunnels going right up to the roots :-( I don't see any signs of attack on the trunk itself, but the roots in the ground... I don't know.

I started spreading Repels-All a few weeks ago, and haven't seen any tunnels since.

These pics were taken just now... the limbs with leaves still look green and fresh, but most of the limbs in the front have lost all of their leaves.

Should I cut off the limbs with no leaves? Or would that do more harm than good?

do not cut anything off until next spring ....

last pic.. surrounding soil looks bone dry .. i dont get why you are hung up on certain number of gallons ...

put a sprinkler on very low.. so it makes a 3 foot circle of water ... and let it run for hours and hours ...

if they live thru winter.. in spring.. you will now which parts are dead and need to be cut off ...

and i doubt the vermin have anything to do with it all ...

and next time.. dont do it in july.. if that wasnt said above ...

ken

I actually did the transplant in early June, sometime around June 3. We almost always have a frost on May 1 so that's the "unofficial" time to put out plants, but I procrastinated... and we had a frost on May 15! So I did the transplant about 2 weeks after the last frost.

The soil's really not dry (subjectively, I guess)... we've had constant rain for 3 days, and today was the first dry day to take a pic. You can see that the fence behind it is still wet. I think maybe you're being misled by the crappy Lowe's brand of mulch :-( The mulch ends just a few feet behind the rhodo, so the lighter brown area behind that is really just a bunch of leaves from the trees that I cut back.

I don't have a spigot nearby (it's on the other side of the house) so I've been hauling jugs every day; that's why I emphasized the 4G /day :-) I gave it 20G shortly after starting this thread, then shortly afterward I set up a berm around it; I use watering jugs to fill in the berm, and by 4G it's usually standing in the berm and takes 4-5 minutes to sink in.

I'm gonna go to Lowe's tomorrow, though, and get the longest water hose I can find. It's not gonna hurt to try...