Me, I would take it back, due to the extent of the damage, and how the tree looks. If they offer a guarantee until Nov., then they should honor it now. They get paid to baby plants, and you should be able to buy a healthy specimen. It IS possible that it got missed a time or two as who-ever was watering at the nursery ran down the rows of plants with the hose, and it got damaged that way. From the photos, it does look like it missed a few waterings. It should come back from it, but it may take a while and it may not be too attractive for a year or so. Just check over your next tree very carefully before you buy it and take it home, and look after it well once you get it there - if you think it's dry from the nursery, water it, and if it's pretty wet, leave it until it's dry. Plant it ASAP (dig the hole before you go to the nursery) and mulch it well - no deeper than 4", as wide as possible, at least 3', and no mulch in the 2-3" next to the trunk. Water it abour every other day for the first week or two, then taper off to once a week or so, as the roots begin to grow out of the root ball into the surrounding soil - a long, slow watering, so the ground gets soaked to the bottom of the root ball. Check if it needs watering by checking the first few inches of soil - if it's dry, water, and if it's still damp, wait another day or 2. You want to give it the equivalent of an inch of rain per week, so adjust your watering according to how much rain you get.

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We are in a serious deficit of rain here in SE Michigan as well and all of the meteorologists said our fall would not be as brilliant as most. However, we still are outpacing almost everywhere in the Midwest. My theory is that each year our Urban Island effect is getting more pronounced, and that we do actually live in a relatively temperate climate compared to most of the Midwest. Michigan has more hardwood tree species than any other state and of all of Europe. Many of these trees are special hybrids and such and seem to be very hardy with our exact climate. Who knows if global warming is adding to our late falls and retarded winters here in SE Michigan, but some literature states that we are in an area that has seen some of the greatest shifts in average overall temps in North America. That makes all of us in the Great Lake State shout for joy and would like to see aerosal can brought back (just kidding). But, our 3,200 miles of coastline has never looked better!

Hey guys! Hope you're all doing great. I'm totally new to any kind of gardening and recently thought I'd try growing some plants in containers (no outdoor space and no balcony/terrace, unfortunately). My Sparkler radish seedlings sprouted but haven't grown much, and in the last day or two I've also noticed that the stems are yellowing. The stems were formerly dark pinkish and are now becoming pale yellow and a couple of them are becoming sorta bendy (please see attached picture). Is this normal? And if not, how do I fix it? I searched the forums for guidance on this problem, but most people who have posted about this problem seem to have leaves also yellowing, not just the stems (in my case it's just the stems that are yellowing). I gather from reading GardenWeb forums that I need to thin out the seedlings, but I thought that that should happen only after the first true leaves grow? If I'm not mistaken, these seedlings are still at the cotyledon-only stage right now. Any help/advice would be much appreciated. Sorry for the newbie questions! EDIT: Forgot to mention, these are in an east-facing window, and I have a compact fluorescent bulb (daylight color) shining on them too. The seedlings are in seed-starting mix and I added in a very small amount of very diluted fertilizer.