Natchez crepe myrtles look bad. Will they recover?

There are 3 beautiful natchez crepe myrtles on one side of my driveway (second photo) and I wanted to duplicate the look on the other side of the drive, so I had 2 planted in November. The existing trees have started to leaf out, but the new ones have no sign of life. Also, the recently planted trees are so skinny and narrow, and I really want a wide canopy. They're already as tall as the trees on the other side, but so narrow. Also, the top branches on the new trees look very dark (hope it's not sooty mold). I would really appreciate any advice. I know not to commit crepe murder.

This message was edited Apr 12, 2014 7:15 PM

This message was edited Apr 12, 2014 7:24 PM

The tree's are still too young to spread out like the older ones, they look very dry to me and also the soil looks like there has been no humus added to it to help enrich it.

The questions needed to give answers to is, the care regime you have offered the NEW tree's.

How often do you water the plants and how much water do you give at any one time.

When did you plant the tree's, autumn, summer when ??????

How did you prepare the soil for planting the tree's. did you add any compost / humus ect to the planting hole to add air, allow moisture to be retained, it feeds the roots and allows to roots to spread into a nice rich soil instead of sitting in a ball.

Why have you piled the soil UP AROUND the trunk at the bottom, this makes any water you do give the tree's to run off down the road instead of going to the area it is mostly required / at the roots.

I don't know your zone BUT, the ground looks kind of baked hard with very little nutrients BUT, answering the questions could help fix your problems.
Tree's need a lot of water, the ones you show are in the open and have little shade to help them recover in the cooler times of the day like at night.

I'm sorry if you wanted an instant answer BUT to give the right help it's best to give more info of when the tree's were planted and the care you have given them since.
I can then give better advice and maybe other can IF more info is given
Best of luck. WeeNel.

November is usually mild enough that the trees can start to spread their roots, but 6 months or so is not long enough for them to be well established.
Did you get reasonable amount of rain through the winter? Or, did you water occasionally if it was very dry?

Now that the spring is arriving I would dig up some extra soil from somewhere and build a berm around the trees to hold water. Then add mulch (like the bark around the established Crape Myrtles).
This will keep the roots a bit cooler so they can continue to spread and grow. Make the berm fairly large, such as at least twice as wide as the original container, so the water soaks down into the area where you want the new roots to grow.

I see the plants are higher than the surrounding soil. If this is the original soil in the container, and you did not mound more soil on top of it, then that is good. If what I see is additional soil mounded on top of the original soil this is bad, and should be removed.

If you are in an area that gets too much summer rain you may have to break down the berm, or only build a shallow one to help during dry spells. In my location berms need to be big substantial things to hold plenty of water. Otherwise it just runs off and does not help the plant.

Often newly planted plants will not keep the same schedule as the same variety that is well established. It might take a couple of years for the new ones to behave similarly.
To make them spread out some you can very carefully prune the new ones to branches that are starting to grow away from the center of the tree. Best time is right after flowering. Crape Myrtles are easy to prune, and respond well, but to direct the future growth it is best to know what you are doing.

WeeNel and Diana, Thank you for your responses. The trees were planted right before winter set in, and we had much more ice and snow than usual and very little rain here in central Arkansas. I have watered them, but it's not easy. The soil you see is the original soil in the container. The plan was to bring in soil and create a bed for the new trees--that's why they were planted high. Unfortunately, the person I hired left without finishing the job, after I paid him. I've called someone else to finish the job, but still waiting. I hope that someday the trees have lots of good soil and compost, but I need help, which is hard to find.

Your answers were helpful. Thank you.

This message was edited Apr 17, 2014 8:10 PM

At this point, then I would bring in whatever material you can handle, and add it to the areas surrounding the trees. Maybe all it will be is a few bags of bark or something. Whatever. Do what you can to start creating a better place for them, even if you cannot get the whole raised planter area done.
I sure understand how hard it is to move materials like soil. Compost, mulch and similar materials are a lot lighter. Summer is coming, and the trees will be more demanding of water through the summer. If there is ANY way you can build berms to hold some water and mulch to keep the soil a bit cooler and hold the water the trees will really benefit.
Then, when more help is available, keep on working on the raised bed idea.

Here is a way to make a berm. It is not pretty, but it will help.

Get some of almost any material. (Shown as orange under the berm) Something like the cheap header board that is sold in tight rolls. Bricks, rocks...
Make a circle with this material around each tree, about twice as wide as the container was.
Cover this with soil (dark blue) that you dig up from somewhere else in the garden. (Does not have to be very far away- no need to carry it very far).
The header or other material under the berm will help hold the soil, keep it from washing away, and the soil will hold some water to help the trees. If the soil does wash out, the header will still sort of hold water until you can fix it.
Mulch (brown) near, but not touching the tree. (sorry- just saw a typo in the drawing)
Light blue represents the water.



This message was edited Apr 17, 2014 8:57 PM

Diana, You are a Godsend. Tomorrow's Saturday, and I'm getting up early and going to work to create the berm you suggest. I will do everything in my power to save these trees. A landscape architect is coming this week to look at this and other disaster areas in my backyard created by the person who I hired and didn't finish the job. People like you restore my faith. Thank you, thank you!

Hope things work out for you.

Make a point of not completing payment until the job is complete.
Walk the job at the end to catch little things. Point these out, and specify that they were included in the original job.

Stick notices up in the garden store, on the tree's and anywhere else in your neighbourhood to inform anyone else NOT to hire the company or person for any garden work, it really angers me that there are people who take on work knowing they have no proper skills for the job, not even embarrassed about the look of those tree's as they drive past, jeeeees the cost of tree's is not cheap and the labour to plant them is costly too so why allow these idiots to go forth and inflict the same disasters on others in your neighbourhood.

Whatever you decide hope everything works out fine and you have many years of pleasure from your tree's.
Good luck. Best Regards. WeeNel.