Question
We had 8 Norway Spruce planted on June 26th (today is July 7th).  Five of them are 7-8 feet tall and three are 5-6 feet.  Some places said I should water them every other day, one place said twice a week.  I've pretty much been watering them every other day (5 trees one day, 3 the next).  But this weekend I watered the 5 trees on Sunday, then not again until today (Wednesday).  It was probably around 85-90 degrees on Monday, then around 100 degrees on Tuesday (no rain). I watered the 5 large trees this morning (Wednesday). Now parts of the 5 trees are turning brown (a few small branches are entirely brown).  The three smaller  trees were watered on Tuesday, and have very little brown.  Have I killed the 5 larger trees?  Should I water them daily for the next couple days?  Help! - they cost a fortune and I don't want to lose them!

Answer
The summer is the very worst time to try to plant trees --due to the heat and the lack of moisture in the soil. It can be done but the larger the tree the more difficult. The tree will be under stress when they are planted due to roots damage so you can expect some dieback but not the entire branch. IF you have not done so mulch around the trees with not more than 3 inches deep of organic mulch not piled up on the trunk. This will help hold moisture around the tree roots. The time of the watering is not as important as the amount. I recommend watering with 1 inch of water--place a pan under the trees and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it stop. Do this every other day for six weeks then every third day for a month then once a week.

Other factors involved are the size of the roots system and the size of the new hole they were planted in. The hole should have been twice the size of the rootball and as deep and filled with good top soil or potting soil and the rootball should have been protected before it was planted and not left out of the ground long. I would go ahead and check with the nursery and/or the folks who planted the trees and ask about a guarantee that the tree will live. That way if or when they should die you can get them replaced. IF they do die I would wait until the fall to replace them.