All my jms are in containers, so my .02 here may be worth about that much. In moderate weather, I do only water 2 or 3 times per week. However, our weather is scorching right now and I am watering well at least every other day. I would only pull mulch away temporarily, to test whether soil is drying out. DonÂt pull the mulch away permanently, as it keeps the ground and roots cool. The soil should have been amended prior to planting to allow it to drain and not pool at the roots.

We also have yews planted in the front of our home, which get afternoon and evening sun. I am watering them at least every other day as well. I do not soak them, mainly due to lack of time, but I do give them a drink. From what I have read, yews do not like wet feet, however they do need to be watered well the first couple of years in order to get established.

Hope that helps a little

dsb22, thanks a bunch for your input!

Colin, were they planted just in June? If so it might be expected transplant shock.

I have pet peeves about burlap left on trees, little we can do about it now if it was.

Use your finger and make sure the water is getting in the root ball.

My transplants are usually little mail order twigs. For the most part I water every 3 days or so w/o rain. Some trees are darn near impossible to drown. Regular Red Maple and Dawn Redwood come to mind. Others are probably more sensitive. Make sure water is getting into that root ball when you water AND that it doesn't turn to sand or swamp when you water.

I just checked my records and they were planted at the beginning of May. Thanks for the info about watering! Do the brown edges and new sprouts at the bottom of the trunk tell you anything? I'm thinking sprouting at the bottom of the trunk is a bad thing.

my Japanes maple is doing the same thing. It has been in the same spot for a couple of years, grew very fast. Last year it lost a couple of leaves but this year the leaves are falling off fast, fried on the edges, there are green spots on the trunk, it has always had sprouts at the bottom which I cut off, and the bark at the bottom split years ago. If anyone knows what this is please advise, I don't want to lose this beatiful tree.

Most maples do not like afternoom or evening sun.If planted in clay it need to be planted above ground.I live in Edgefield c county the clay retain water in winter could drown your tree.Mulch with ground up leaves and pine bark.

JM's like well drained soil, little fertilizer, and LOVE humiddity, so you should try spraying some water mixxed with this leaf fertilizer stuff where you can get at the link I'm gonna post (leaf fertilizer optional) every so often, it can also be suffering from shock, with in that case, being sure that it has shock, trim it back as you would in winter, and it will start growing back, I would get it checked out by someone from a nursery, or just tell them about it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jm stuff