Question
Three weeks ago, we had two honey locust trees planted by a local nursery in Richmond, VA. The trees were planted in holes prepared in heavy clay soil that was amended with bagged soil and mulched. Since that time we have had numerous 95+ degree days.  We were told to water twice weekly but noted that the trees almost immediately turned yellow and began quickly dropping their leaves.  We increased our watering to daily watering in the evening to ensure that the trees were not being dried out by the surrounding hard and dried soil.  At this point, one tree is almost completely bare and the other has lost approximately 80% of the leaves.  We have not noticed any spots on the leaves.  Any suggestions?

Answer
This time of the year is about the worst time to plant trees due to the heat and lack of ground moisture. They sound like they are dead or very near. I would contact the nursery and ask about their guarantee policy of trees they plant and sell. And get replacements. It would be better to wait until the hardwood leaves start to fall before re planting or until next spring. If you go ahead I would water every third day with 1 inch of water--place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of eater in it stop. Do this every third day fro a month then once a week. Make sure you mulch around the tree with not more than 3 inches deep of organic mulch not piled up on the trunk. This will help hold moisture around the trees root.

Also dig the hole twice the size of the root ball and as deep and fill with good top soil or potting soil. Punch holes into the sides and bottom of the hole. Sometimes digging holes for trees in heavy clay you tend to smooth out the sides and these will harden and make a pot in the ground that will hold water and this can drown the root so the holes in the sides and bottom can help drain the "pot".