Two of my three Sycamores died this spring which I believe was caused by planting them root bound. This was done in October of 2010. I hadn't read about untangling the roots yet and just dug holes and planted them. My two great danes have dug at the roots and chewed some of them up but incidentally the tree that got chewed the worst was the one that is still alive. They were puppies when they did this and over over that stage thankfully.

I am worried that although the one is alive that it is in bad shape and will likely die sooner rather than later and want to do whatever I can to get it in a position so that it will live. I am planning on replacing the two dead trees with Oaks this fall.

Should I dig up the one that has lived and untangle the roots this fall before moving it to the center hole or leave it be and cross my fingers. As you may see I don't have any large trees in my yard and my neighbors don't have any either. I want to keep the one Sycamore alive because of its size.

Also, I am pretty sure that the crispy leaves are from the hot wave we had rather than any other issues. New leaves have recently popped out.

The album is pictures of the live tree first and then several pictures of the dead trees root balls and trunks. This spring I did see bugs crawling in and out of the large crack on the trunk in one of the last pictures. Not sure what they were.

those were some pretty big trees.. in pretty small pots.. werent they????

severely root bound.. IMHO ...

ken

Get a tarp to work on, shake off and remove as much soil from the rootball with your hands, and then loosen all the roots. Any that are so messed up that you cannot straighten out, or, that are "J" shaped and head back into the inner of the rooball, clip them off with your pruners. Once you have all the untangling complete, build a cone in the middle of your planting hole so when you rest the tree on it, it's at the level you want the tree to be after you backfill the soil. With your hands, hold the roots in place straight (do each one individually if necessary) and pack soil against (it/them) to hold them in place while continuing to do so until all the roots are headed in the right direction. Believe me, this is the only way to plant a woody-plant.

Then mulch, & water it very deeply once or twice a week for the remainder of the year and during year two, continue to do so. Year three it should be ok, but if no rain for 2-3 weeks, water it deeply. Year 4, it's on its' own unless you don't see rain for 3-4 weeks.

I hope this information helps.

Dax

They were really big when I bought them, about 15-18 feet tall. I was so excited. I figured that by now, two summers later that they would be exploding into big trees treating my yard with fantastic shade. It was not to be though. If I remember right it they were in 15 or 20 gallon pots, too small for sure.

Thanks for the explanation on how to work the roots. I may try it this fall depending on how fast it gets cool and/or freezes. I would like to get some oaks planted and do the same root work on them this fall if things work out.

If there's a good deal of dissimilarity between the rootball soil and your yard's soil, it can happen that water doesn't soak the rootball area even though it is being applied in the general vicinity. Let's hear more about how you watered them.

+oM

Now I turn on the dogs water bowl that I connected to the hose and leave it next to the trees while they are out. Its the same idea except that the dogs slobber on the trees a bit now too. You can see my contraption in the first few pictures.

+om

I would water more than 15 or 20 minutes. The watering regimen for a lawn is not great for trees. They want longer and deeper watering. Established sycamores can take some drought but they do like water -a lot. In nature they are a riparian species.

I plant two sycamores five years ago. I water them about once a week with a soaker hose arranged in a ring at the dripline. I let it go for about 4 to 6 hours. It gets hotter than heck here in late summer but that's when my trees put on the most growth. They love heat as long as they have plenty of water.