New Cherry Tree

Question

Hello, we just planted our north star cherry tree last week. it came in a burlap bag. They told us to plant the tree with the bag still around it. We used organic garden soil and dug a hole twice the size of the base and just as high. Just a few days later, all of the leaves are sad and the cherries that were on it wilted. It has only been a week. Is it dying? what can we do to save it? Is this normal for a newly planted tree?

Answer 1

It is probably in transplant shock. Also, when planting a tree, you normally backfill with the soil that came out of the hole. You don't need to buy special soil or amendments. The reason for that is so the roots will fan out into the soil rather than staying in the "good" soil and circling about. If the outer soil is clayey, it can also cause the roots to become trapped and water to pool.

Your cherry tree needs to be kept well watered while recovering, but not saturated. North Star cherry trees do not like wet feet. Here is info on watering your newly planted tree:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/tgen/watering-newly-planted-tree.htm