Have you been specifically watering the tight root ball it had when you planted it or just relying on the lawn sprinklers? It's most likely been too dry.

take a hand trowel.. or tablespoon and dig a few 3 to 6 inch holes around the plant varying distances from the plant... AND FIND OUT HOW DRY IT IS DOWN AT ROOT DEPTH ...

i suspect it is extremely underwatered at depth ...

and once that happens.. all kinds of things can happen to the leaves ...

did you put landscape fabric under the mulch .. did you mulch ...

plz review timing at the link below.. two months ago.. it was august.. and not much should be planted in august ... in hindsight.. you should have held it until about now ... im surprised your seller didnt advise you of such.. unless it was bigbox ... hope you saved your receipt ...

if you start watering properly.. you may save it ... but consider these leaves lost.. eventually they will fall off ... to be replaced later ..

its is extremely stressed.. not hungry.. no fert ...

ken

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

Thank you for your comments. I just reached down with a long rebar and the soil under is perfectly moist. Any thoughts on this might be a fungal disease?

It looks scorched more than anything. Have you sprayed if with some type of oil or chemical for pests?

As stated previously your tree looks quite like it's burning up in your summer conditions. When you checked "the soil" did you look at the soil the tree came in, or just the soil used to fill the planting hole?

I don't understand why everybody is saying it is underwatered. IT IS NOT. I checked 3 feet down all around the central leader and it is wet all the way out to where the original cutout was in the lawn at planting. Actually I think it is being over watered. I have 2 other exact trees planted the same time, get the same amount of water and are thriving. This one has put out a tremendous amount of flowers since I planted it 2 months ago. Does anybody out there think this might be a fugal problem?

Thank you gardengal48, it sits in the center of 3 sprinkler heads with 15ft radius, each giving out 7 gallons 3 times a week. Is that too much? too little? Pleas advise. Thank you.

Impossible to say from just that info. Would need to know specific soil conditions to be able to judge percolation and drainage. But pop-up automatic sprinklers are a very poor choice for irrigating trees and shrubs although generally OK for lawns. As much as a half to 3/4's of the output is lost to evaporation before it hits the ground so your 7 gallons is likely closer to 3-4 gallons, perhaps less.

Ideally, newly planted trees should be hand watered, at least initially. My preferred method is to put the hose on at a slow trickle and place close to the base of the tree and let it run for a half hour or so. Exact timing will depend on soil and weather conditions. But of most importance is making sure the tree rootball before planting was properly irrigated and fully hydrated, otherwise all the watering in the world may not help.

Bianca, your water bill must be through the roof! I think watering is like gold there, right? Over here in New England, there are watering bans every where due to drought.

Gardengal has helped me through more than you know, I am sure her and many will get to the root of it. As I said the leaves look scorched or burnt probably from your conditions but not diseased. Is there anything else diseased near by?

I was a landscaper and arborist for years and that is exactly what happens when the roots are not happy for some reason... Good luck)

I have clay soil. I did do exactly like you said. I left the hose on small trickle for an hour after planting, but only did it once. Because it was blooming and happy looking, I thought it was ok. The root ball looked ok. It was planted by a professional tree company. I will try to hand water it to see if there are improvements. Doesn't the grass help retain water for the tree?

"Doesn't the grass help retain water for the tree?"

Nope! In fact, grass/lawns soak up much of the water before it ever reaches the tree roots. They also steal soil nutrients but that is less of an issue for larger trees than it is for tiny ones or saplings/seedlings. It is better to remove any sod for a clear 3' diameter (at least) surrounding the tree and cover with mulch, avoiding it touching or piled up against the trunk.

ok. I will do that. I suddenly remembered, Trugeen had sprayed herbicide to kill the nutgrass in the lawn. Could that cause damage?

Thank you Mike! I am very grateful to everyone's help. Can I ask, I have another southern magnolia tree that I rescued from someone's yard. It was in the original wood planter for 10 years. Now, it is also in the lawn, but all the leaves turn dark chocolate brown, and rolled up into a tube. It gets a lot of water in that area of lawn. I shut the sprinkler off when I see 9 sprinklers are spraying at it but there is no improvement. That part of lawn was also sprayed by Trugreen for nutgrass. What am I doing wrong here. Please help. Thank you

It depends on the herbicide but in most cases, nutgrass or nutsedge herbicides are pretty target specific and should have no effect on larger woody plants.

Having said that, I would not allow Trugreen anywhere near my yard! I have heard - and witnessed - too many horror stories from that source (former name was Chemlawn). Nothing they do that can't be done just as easily and more inexpensively and carefully on your own.

Yes it is a terrible terrible company, nearly ruined my 6000 sf of brand new lawn. I thought they have a way with nutsedge but they don't. Grass dies but the nutgrass grows right through the patch of dead lawn. Thank you so much for your advice. I am going to remove sod around the tree and hand water it. What do you think my other magnolia problem? transplant shock? water problem? leaves are completely rolled up into tubes. all dark solid brown.

Just remember that nutgrass is a water weed and usually only grows in frequently watered areas. that could have more affect on the Magnolias than the nutgrass treatment unless the treatments are done often because the conditions have never changed.