My new dogwood tree doesn't look good ... (growing, fertilizers, trees)

[blossom4792]

Hi,I'm a total beginner gardener in the last year. Anyhow, I bought a new white dogwood tree about 2 months ago. I followed all planting instructions, gave it good soil and a lot of water. It just looks bad - all of the leaves are dried up. It seemed to have some life in the form of tiny leaves growing under the dead leaves, but now I'm not sure. One of my relatives is telling me not to fret, but I'm not sure. What should I do? It is getting full sun.thanks

[azoria]

Transplant shock, too much sun/heat all at the same time. One thing you should not do is apply any kind of chemicals or fertilizers.

Just take care of it and wait. You will know next spring whether or not it will survive.

If the tree doesn't make it, don't fret. Next spring go buy a new one and try again.

I've done a lot of gardening and had zillions of plants die and fail to thrive. I've particularly had trouble getting trees going. Trees I think are more difficult, and take several years to root in well and prosper.

[andthentherewere3]

It sounds like it got too dry, just keep watering it frequently and thoroughly. As azoria said, you will not really know how healthy the tree is until next year. Hopefully it will bounce back.

Oh, I just had a thought. My first few shrubs I bought and planted when I first began gardening years ago did something similar, and they died. I later learned it was because I had failed to spread out the roots after removing them from the pots. They were root-bound. How was the root system when you planted the tree? Did you loosen the roots at all?

[southernnaturelover]

Dogwoods are understory trees, they always look best with shade during the hottest time of the day (same with Redbuds). I also agree that it could be rootbound, but that usually causes a slow death.

[blossom4792]

Oh goodness, even before reading your posts I moved the tree today to an are that will get "partial" sun. I'm pretty mad at myself for missing the notation of "partial" sun. It was getting pretty much full sun. As far as the root structure, it just is very thin and limited. It doesn't have a robust root structure. I have tried to spread it out, but there isn't really too much to spread and I think it was that way from the beginning. But the point is well taken - a few months ago I pulled out a lot of my perennials and shook out the roots and replanted. And it worked. Forgive my lack of experience here ...