Question
I live near Philadelphia, PA. 10 days ago, a landscaper planted several things for me--an Alaskan cypress, Japanese Hinoka cedar, dwarf Alberta spruce and an arborvitae.  All looked nicely green when he put them in. I watered them daily as he'd told me to do, by using a hose to soak the ground around each for app 5-10 min per shrub, depending on the size. The soil isn't packed, it was new topsoil and I checked, the water was soaking in nicely, not running off anywhere. (I've watered exactly like this before on shrubs I've planted and never had a problem.) By day 3, I noticed brown needles appearing in spots on all the evergreens.  He had to return to finish something that afternoon and said they hadn't been watered enough or correctly, that you have to water them as if it was rain coming down, you can't soak the ground. Since I've never had much luck with evergreens recovering once they get brown, I asked if he'd replace them if they don't come around. He won't, says they weren't properly watered. I'm thinking they actually may be overwatered, but he says it's impossible to do that. I looked up these shrubs online and am still not sure if I keep watering daily as he directed or if I need to cut back a bit.  Any advice/thoughts are very much appreciated.  Thanks for your time volunteering.
Kristin

Answer
You can over water trees especially conifers. The result would look like under watering.  I would water once a week 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. 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.