Red Sunset Maple

briteflame

I bought 2 Red Sunset Maples 2 weeks ago. They were in burlap sacks. The nursery told me to plant the trees in the burlap. This week the leaves really started wilting. I'm not sure if I'm overwatering them with the warmer weather. I live in Pennsylvania and it rained a few times last week so I only watered them when it wasn't raining. This week I have been watering them in the morning and night. They are wilting more and more each day. Is there anything I can do to save them?

TreeSpecialist

A B&B (balled and burlapped) tree should have ALL of the burlap removed from the tree when planted.

The burlap will significantly limit the development of roots. Frequently, the burlap is treated to resist rot. We have excavated trees with the burlap intact 15 years after being planted. Below grade, there is little to no oxygen which helps preserve the burlap.

Also, there is usually a piece of nylon string around the trunk - this should also be removed.

In the future, never buy a B&B tree. Look for container grown trees. B&B trees only have about 5 to 10% of the original root system and will take a long time to recover - if ever.

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ShadeTreeFan

I concur with the do not buy a B & B tree. I can tell you from my own personal tree buying experience. Here is the quick story on this very topic.
I purchased a new house 7 years ago, that summer, so the summer of 2003 I purchased a $300 B & B sunburst honeylocust tree and planted it. ( I did cut off the burlap and tie strings.) I purchased it thinking it all ready was a nice big tree and I was looking for some shade, it had a trunk caliper of about 2.5' -2.75" at that time. The following summer of 2004 I purchased another sunburst honeylocust this time a 1" branched bare root special for around $70 bucks. They are planted all of 18' from each other so they get the exact same amount of sun ect. And to my surprise I can tell you that last summer the skinny little bare root tree surpassed the B & B tree in size! The bare root tree from summer #2 after planting has grown like a weed where as the B & B tree hardly added any new growth for the first 3 years it was planted. So to TreeSpecialist point this is a real world example of why not to get B & B trees.

I have noticed over the past two seasons it is growing harder to even find nurseries that carry B & B trees in my area, more and more of them are moving to large containers for their larger trees so this must be an industry wide movement away from B & B trees, at least in Minnesota nurseries.

For your exact tree that is hard to say, you could see if the new area around the B & B is wet but that does not necessarily mean deep down in the dense compacted soils of the trees ball is wet so it is real hard to judge that correctly. I do however know that trees leaves will wilt with over watering just like they would if the tree was drying out. Hopefully you got a warranty through your place of purchase. Good luck with your red sunset maples I myself have 3 red maple cultivars, or 3 red maples and two different cultivars and I love them. Next time though do yourself a favor and skip the B & B and just get a smaller containerized tree, they are cheaper to buy, haul and handle. And they will get over the transplant shock stage quicker and get to growing for you much faster then a B & B tree.

Brent Ferris

I agree with the other writers. Here in Ontario, if you buy a B & B and take off the burlap, you void the warranty. Of course, if you don't remove it, the tree usually dies. They sell more trees that way.

I would also check to see what kind of soil is in burlap bag. If it does not match the soil you have, take the tree back, and buy a tree grown in the same kind of soil you have -- ie sand to sand, silt to silt, clay to clay. Mixing up the soils can have dire consequences for the tree.

sueann

Fabulous info guys, thanks for that! I bought 2 japanese elms 6 months or so ago and they were burlapped and I have been wondering why they seem a bit slow picking up.

The nursery also told me that the burlap was bio degradable and could be planted as is. What should I do now? gently dig them up and cut the burlap?
I will tell the nursery they gave me bad information. That's so poor service!


I paid $99 each for them and I'd like them to survive.

Brent Ferris

If it is real burlap --not synthetic - it does rot, but only at the soil-air interface. I have dug up stumps 10-25-years old or more, and the burlap can still be so strong you can't pull it apart. Rotting takes a long time with the low levels of oxygen present in the soil.

I would definitely cut the burlap -- if your warranty is voided by removing it, but complaining to the nurseryman -- not usually worth it. Most of them say you got bad advice. After all, who can know more about trees than a grower? In their opinion, certainly not someone who looks after them once there planted on someone's property.
Nurserymen and arborists/foresters/tree people are really on the same team, but the opinions of one seldom hold much weight with the other. Real pity.

Victor Lindsay

I believe there has been alot of research on b&b, (it's been around for years). Let me look some of it up...Gilman has some info on nursery stock and planting with B&B.