What's wrong with my trees?

treeguru wannabe

I have three other trees that are in possible need of some special attention as well. The first one is an elm. The issue I have with it is that it's leaving like the rest of them, but just not at the same rate...Considering it's late May and most if not all the trees are fully leaved now. This one also has dark spots on the end of their leaves like they were burned.

The other two are oaks. The one as you can see from the picture hasn't even leaved yet hardly. There are buds and little leaves coming, but it's like night and day compared to my other oaks that I planted. The other oak, it looks really good as far as leaving on top, but the middle and bottom portion of it has nothing.

Please see the pictures attached. They are added in the order in which I talked about them. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm a newbie. I planted all these last May/June (2009).

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Eric Frei

I say be patient and wait.

It's pretty much their first year in the ground.

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treeguru wannabe

Yes it is their first year, so I'll keep hoping. Should I water them more maybe to kick start them a bit? We have clay type soil here too so the ground holds water pretty well....There is probably a case where I can over-water and drown them?

kflood74

I wouldnt water them to much, only if you can tell the soil is very dry. You can definately cause problems by over watering. Water maybee once a month in the summer. But when you water, turn it on very low so it drains in the soil instead of runs off. Might want to ditch the nursery stakes, pull the grass (weeds away from trunk), and add some mulch (but keep it a couple inches away from the trunk). Nothing really appears to be wrong with them though. Just some ideas that should help prevent problems. G.L.

treeguru wannabe

Thanks for the info....I have a root watering spike where it connects to the hose and you push it in the soil so it's all underground. Have you used any of these before? In the past, during dry conditions, I was putting them down for about 10 minutes per tree. Maybe this is too much water?

What are the nursery stakes mainly for....To keep the tree upright? I wouldn't need them anymore you don't think?