How many emitters and what is the GPH? 20 minutes does not sound like enough time for a drip system, generally speaking. I would deep water the tree (with a hose) every few days instead of what you are doing. Your watering schedule may work for the tree once established but it will need much more water now, especially with the weather we are having. You might also try regular applications of either a B vitamin solution and/or Superthrive, these always help with transplant shock.

25" box, that HAS to be Moon Valley ;)

Thanks for your help, it was a Whitfield Nursery tree and they only guarantee for 3 months. I'll try extra watering and some b vitamins and see if it helps at all. When I called Whitfield the person I talked to said either I over watered or under watered and sounded like they wouldn't do anything about it. She did say if they came out they would check the root ball for signs of overwatering. If the tree does croak, I have the feeling I'm out the money on it. :(
Barbaraj

A 3 month guarantee for a tree is really no guarantee imo.

If the guarantee excludes over or under watering it's a completely BS guarantee since those are by far the most common problems and they know it. If you want to get into a p*ssing contest with these people you need to understand the rules of the game they are playing.

Get a copy of the guarantee and see what it says about watering. If it is really clear they warned you about watering and they didn't install the drip or set the timer, the honest thing would be to vest up to your mistake and forget the guarantee. Water deep every 2-3 days 5-10 gal per watering and wait 6 months for the tree to come back. It probably will.

Otherwise call and ask how the tree should be watered acting like a potential customer. How many gals, how often. Later when asked how much you watered repeat exactly what they said...word for word.

There's no way they can tell a plant died from under or over watering. When they look at the root ball and find it moist they'll say "over watering" if dry they'll say "under". BS. Repeat the watering sch they suggested. "I watered today so it should be moist" or "I stopped watering when it died". It's a game, unfortunately. They may nick the bark, find green and say the tree is still alive, which is probably true. "Yes, it is still alive, but it is clearly dying".

Basically agree with whatever they say and then spin it into supporting your position. It used to be called lying and now it's called communication. But if that's the game you have to play by the rules to have a chance.

Who knows, they may find they planted it too low or too high and offer to replace it. Be nice, short responses, repeat the same response over and over and see what happens.

Best you can get is a new tree. Forget about getting your money back. Either way you have learned alot.

Murmanator gave you all the advice you need.

The mentality to plant and tree and walk away and let an arbitrary drip system take care of it doesn't work. For establishment, it requires more effort. Watering in the B-1 or Superthrive and soaking SLOWLY with the hose every few days until established is an excellent idea. Naturally, you'll need to go out and make sure it isn't sopping wet and keep watering it-that would kill it too. Drainage varies but you always want to keep it moist in the beginning. Put the hose away from the trunk and with the contour of the gradient so it flows toward the tree.

In the future, place the emitters at the drip line of the tree. You want roots to 'seek out' water and contribute to a better-anchored and rooted tree that won't blow over. You are growing roots now though, not foliage.

These are tough trees that love heat. They are true tropicals. This IS the time of year to plant it and get it established. Depending on where you are, cold is a non-factor for the most part.

As an aside, the nursery industry is churn and burn. They sell big 'pots' and small trees because people seem to be enamored with big pot sizes. Naturally, they pay the higher price for it (dumb). Take a look around and move the trunks on these 'big box' trees and you'll see the circular movement of the smaller pot it came in. More often than not, they just 'bumped' them to the bigger container and they aren't fully rooted in it. It makes a difference when you want to truly water the 'root ball' and add the Superthrive or B-1 to the 'real' root ball.

I'm not saying you are a victim of this, I'm just spreading the word for those not aware.

Whitfill is a decent nursery. Moon Valley is notorious for the 'bumping' and the big-pot small-plant big-price game. I'm buying a tree and trunk size, not a pot.

Good luck.

I am just wafting in on this discussion. Got interested because I am new to AZ and ordered one of the packages of trees from Moon Valley. Advice taken and will not do so again. But meanwhile I have several 24" boxed trees not yet picked out but on order from that Nursery. I had intended to pick out several multi-trunk Jacarandas as my choices. Also, I cannot water by hose and hand, as I am only at my place for a few days once a month. So have to be on timer and drip. Thought I would put in a soaker hose around well on a timer. What do you all think?

Hi,
Thanks to all that answered, I will call them and ask the watering schedule, very good idea. The leaves are really dead but the branches still have some give in them when they are bent, do I'm hoping there is still enough life left in it to survive.
Thanks again for the advice.
Barbaraj

Hey,
I mess around with Jacaranda a bit. Hope you're still reading the thread.
The same thing happened to my tree here in CA during July. I keep this one in a 24" pot (1.5 yrs old, grown from seed, about 6.5 ft tall), so conditions are a bit different. Based on the condition of some of my other trees, I think my tree had its roots burned by the heat. The side of the container had to be over 120. It started to lose the small leaves starting at the bottom. Once the leaves were gone, the stem of the frond turned brown and fell off.

I slowed the burnout by covering the pot so the sun wouldn't hit it and made sure it was always a bit damp (more to cool the roots) until the brown stuff stopped advancing. I lost about 1/3 of the the fronds, but the tree is back on track now.

During the same period, I had some other seedings that are about 6 months old. I grow everying outside so they received the scorching sun as well. Their roots were protected in the pots (not rootbound) so all they did was wilt. I find jacaranda wilt very quickly, starting from the leaves just below the terminal bud at the top. A drink of water stopped that problem.

Sorry about rambling, but I think your problem might be with some damaged roots or excessive stress since underwatering usually leads to drooping before the drying and death of leaves (in my experience). Since you can't look at the roots, I would probably make sure you have plenty of mulch covering the root area of the plant and some solution that helps trees recover from shock (in addition to plenty of water in the heat). My trees seemed to enjoy the heat, just not below the soil.

Good luck. Don't give up. They are very sturdy trees.

I'm in LA County and my jacaranda seedlings (about 6 weeks old) very suddenly wilted. I found the soil dry so I've put the pot in a bowl of water and set it in the shade of my potted blood orange tree. I really hope it recovers. Should I bring it inside?

Crystal
All you are doing is drowning the roots.

What the trees need is careful attention to watering so that the soil stays moist. Get a water sensor and use it every day, and water whenever the soil needs it.

I know this is very old thread but I have started nearly 20 from seed and all dies from wither scorching or over watering it is hard to keep them alive in the British winter oh I'm in zone 7-8 (southwest UK) frost is avg -8C

anyway so when leaves wilt its not enough water and when they lose leaves it's stress??

thank you

Hi everyone,
we recently planted a Jacaranda that seems to be having the same problem. We have given it deep water every other week... 1-2 hours of slow hose. I will try adding B1 - anyone else have additional recommendations? Thanks!

we recently planted a Jacaranda that seems to be having the same problem. We have given it deep water every other week... 1-2 hours of slow hose.

Not nearly enough for a newly planted tree.

Yes, they are drought tolerant ... but only after they have been in the ground a couple of years or more.

Well, we just spent over $500 having a 17 year old Jacaranda removed. It heaved up a sidewalk, prevailing winds year around blew those tiny leaves iinto our pool.(many feet away) the falling blossoms stained everything when stepped on. Was a bird sancuary at night with resulting mess.
Be careful where you plant it and wish for.

My Jacaranda's leaves turn brown and drop every spring when I move it outside in its pot. Here in Central Europe I must keep my Jacaranda inside the house because of the cold winter, but late march I can move it to the field on a sunny place. It starts to grow new leaves in the house from late january, but when I move it outside late march and expose to direct sunlight nearly all the leaves wither, turn brown and drop. Only the leaves remain that are in the shadow and not exposed to the sunlight. Then the tree slowly recovers and starts to grow new leaves. I have no clue why this happens every spring. Maybe the shock caused by the moving and the direct sunlight...

cjkrisz .... You need to expose it to the new conditions gradually. It's called "hardening off" in gardening terms.

Try moving it outside during the day and back in at night for a while, and then out into an area where it gets a bit of morning sun and leaving it there for a couple of weeks, then to a sunnier spot, and finally into the full sun.

lazy_gardens: Thank you so much for your advice! I will do as you said! I hope it's not too late... :( I moved my specimen from inside to the field 6 days ago. I shot the first photo then. Yeah, it was so droopy. At this place the sun shines at it all day from sunrise to sunset. The second photo was shot a few minutes ago. It dropped about the 80% of its leaves especially on the southern side. The leaves looked very dry or burnt before they dropped. The northern side which was in the shadow looks good.
You say it is not late to replace it to a less sunny place for a few weeks? I hope I did not kill my tree. :(

Move it back to the shadier spot.

Next year, bring it out slowly.

Thanks! I have moved to a shadier place. Only the morning sun shines on the tree now.

I really hope someone still reads this thread. My son was killed 3 years ago and we got a biodegradable urn for his ashes and grew a jacaranda tree from a seed. The tree is about 2 1/2 years old now but the leaves have started curling and dropping. I know it was over-watered about 2 months ago when the ac guys worked on the roof and left the water running right into the pot. I was furious. I drained it as best I could, covered it with new soil, and stopped watering it till it completely dried out... It dropped about 70 % of it's leaves and stems but seemed to recovered and was sprouting new leaves and branches (stems) in quite a few places. Now, 2 months later it's started wilting and the leaves are curling under... I don't know what that means. I will be heartsick if it dies. Anyone have any tips? I am so careful with watering... I make sure it is almost dry before I add more and then give it a good solid drink. It has been indoors since the watering incident by a big window and likes (liked) it there. I'm so perplexed because it was doing great again... :(

Lisa Lariviere: I am really sorry for your loss!
I guess you don't have to worry about your tree. The jacaranda is a very tough plant, though it's sensible to the change of the environment. If you put it outside from the house in spring or back in autumn the reaction is similar: most of the leaves curl, wither and drop. But this is not a problem, because the jacaranda is deciduous. Water it once a week in the winter, but never let it dry out too much and it's going to be fine.
In the spring you can move it out to the field in a shady place where it gets direct sunshine in the morning. It has to get used to the new environment so you have to move it back to the house during the night. After a week, you can move it to a sunnier place (don't expose it ot the noon sunshine because the leaves will burn!) but from now on it's not neccessary to move it back during the night. And after another week, you can move it to a place where it gets direct sunshine all the day. The leaves won't burn, because the plant got used to it's new place, but don't worry if it drops some of its leaves, it's normal. You have to water it regularly in the summer. Though I don't know what climate zone are you living in, but I have a specimen, same age as yours, here in Hungary, treat as I wrote above and it likes my treatment.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your help. I would be heartbroken if something happened to it. I will do as you say.

Any ideas on what's making Jacaranda looklikethis?