Question

Cottonless falling May  

Cottonless falling lea   Hello, I am frantic to find an answer in that just this morning our tree has started to shed it's leaves and looks like half the trees leaves are now on the ground. today is may 23, 2012. this is the second year for this tree. it is reallyt 18 months old since planting. we live in Golden valley arizona (northern arizona west of flagstaf) high desert. we water our trees, some, during the winter months unless there is a freeze and we seldom get freeze. We can not see any borers or other insects or bark damage. we are currently almost drowning our tree. we have put some miricle grow in the tree well. Please tell us more and if we should worry, or should be doing somthing else to save our tree. Thank you for reading this request. Picture taken today at 2pm.

Answer
The problem is the "drowning" You are watering the tree too much. A tree needs about 1 inch of water per week. Place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it stop. Also mulch around the tree with not more than 3 inches deep of  organic mulch not piled up on the trunk.Too much water twill give the same signs as too little water--the leaves drooping and falling.

Do not fertilize the tree this will encourage more foliage and the root system can not keep up with the amount of foliage. Trees do not really need fertilizer except IF the foliage turns yellow or light green. Then fertilize in the winter months with 10-10-10 fertilize at the rate of 1 lb of fertilize per inch of trunk diameter scattered around the tree and watered in good. Right now I would not fertilize this tree for the next year.