Question

young Colorado Blue Sp  

young Colorado Blue Sp   I planted five Colorado Blue Spruce trees this spring.  They are in West Virginia but not a high elevation and the soil is rather clay like.  They get shade in the morning and sun the rest of the day.  I do not currently live on the property but I mulched the trees and try to water them every week or two, depending on rainfall.  The trees were fine two week ago but we have had 10 days of extremely hot temps. Three of the trees are still fine, but the new growth has turned brown on one of the trees and seems to be starting on another one.  Do you have any ideas or suggestions?  Thanks.

Answer
The main problem is lack of water. It looks like the young trees have a good deal of competition for water from the surrounding plants. The root systems of the other plant are sharing water and due to the numbers more than likely getting more than there share of the water. Tree this young need water once a week and more often if it is dry and hot. I would spray Roundup on the plant with in 3 feet of the trees and expand the mulch to cover this area This will allow the tree to get the water in this area and not have to compete with the other plants. Roundup will kill any green plant it is sprayed on so make sure the tree does not get any spray on it. Then when I could water I would water until the soil down to about 3-4 inches is wet. Clay soil tends to dry out fast in hot weather. The mulch plus more water and lees competition should solve the problem.