If you have been working on your landscaping around your home, you most likely included freshly planted trees in the mix. You gently place each young tree into the ground and seal it with the freshest of soil before watering it to give it a good start. Then you go outside one morning with a cup of coffee in hand to view your new landscape and notice that the leaves on your trees are turning brown or yellow and they appear to be wilted. Why?

When trees have a wilted look and the leaves are discolored, there is certainly a problem, but what? There is a way that you can help your tree and your landscape look. Here’s how.

How to take care of new trees

Just like anything else, young trees can be stressed with a new move. Factors such as change in temperature and different types of soil can cause transplant shock. This condition can normally start in the roots. When the roots don’t have enough room to spread out or if they cannot get enough water to drink, they can quickly lose their battle to thrive.

Is the tree dying?

There is a way that you can help your newly planted tree and help it to get a great start in life so that it can give you years of enjoyment, shade, and oxygen. Tree Service in San Jose says that reviving your shocked young tree will require the following:

• Bend a tree branch to check and see if its dead. If the tree is dead, the branch will just snap off however if its bendable and flexible, or hard to break, then there is still life in the tree.
• Scratch an area on a twig with your fingertips or you can use a pocket knife. If the layer underneath what you scratch off is moist and green in color, then the tree is still alive.

Leaves wilting or browning

Now that you have determined that your tree is alive, its time to save it. Remember, its most likely suffering from transplant shock which means that the roots don’t have enough room to establish themselves into the new soil. The tree basically needs a little tender loving care to get back on its track. Here are a few suggestions to help:

• Water the roots with at least one inch of water per week
• Apply 2-4 inches of mulch around the base of the tree
• Don’t trim or prune the tree unless it has obvious dead branches on it.

If these steps don’t help your new tree survive, you may want to consider planting it in a larger hole so that it has the opportunity to flourish.