I have 2 Autumn Blaze maples planted in 2023 in amended soil. I have both on drip system, but one gets watered by 2 sprinklers also. I am in zone 6a with hot dry summers. One looks great and one looks like it has the growth retarded with small leaves and seed pods attached, but some new normal growth. I did remove the drip and changed to one sprinkler covering, but not until September. The first pic is the normal one and the second is the poor looking one. I planted the same with b&b trees.
Any suggestions on my issue? I can only think the tree was drowning as the soil isn't the best draining but does drain.
Hi, the soil is newly amended topsoil with about 15% mulch tilled in. Dug a hole, set it in after removing twine and cutting back the burlap as it fell down. I backfilled halfway, filled with water, sat and filled the rest in with a gentle pat down then watered. staked the tree. As for watering, it was on a drip with a 1gph on each side about a foot away, set every 3rd day for an hour.. However, this tree was in the path of 2 lawn rotors that added additional water on a daily basis. All the other 3 trees did well the first year, but they were not watered as much. I ended up removing the drip for the last month of the season. I did notice some new normal growth at a few tips.