Where are you located? Mine's doing the same thing this year (been in the ground 3 years)

Just updated my post. I'm in the Seattle area, zone 8a.

Thanks for updating the post. Sounds like it might be drought related. I hear the west coast is experiencing a heat wave? I recall reading that Giant Sequoia's love a lot of water and don't like to dry out. My 7ft Weeping Giant Sequoia is almost entirely brown, it started after we had a drought this year and I did not water :(. Lets hope your tree pulls through.

I planted earlier this year (end of April).

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that brown dog is looking awful guilty .. lol ...

how can we be sure it might not also be transport damage ... minor damage might also show itself long after the event that caused it ... perhaps complicated by all the other stresses of transplanting ...

you dont show the leader.. how does that look ... and how do a majority of the growth points look ..

internal yellowing.. browning is normal.. and much increased due to such stresses as weather.. transport.. transplant ....etc ... the problem is.. on a weeping plant like this.. its a bit trickier to ID what are the older needles that are at the end of their cycle . you could probably tell by bark transitions ... [each year.. the bark changes] ....

when a plant is dying .. it tends to go ALL off color ... not half vibrant green and half yellowish ... as yours seems to be .. based on these pix ...

ken

It looks as if the whole yard needs watering. The other two are green because you have been watering them. The grass is green around them. No green grass around the big new one. It also looks as if you did no soil preparation, like spading around where the tree was going to go. Did you dig a hole just large enough for the rootball? Looks like it.

We haven't had any significant rain in over 70 days.

Poke around in original soil ball to see what the moisture situation is - you are probably going to be surprised. I did an entire planting of various kinds of container grown plants here recently and had some flag because I skipped watering for a day or two this week - going an entire week would probably result in major failure. Perennials still in their pots, sitting on top of the bed nearly shriveled because of this seemingly brief lapse.

Also you should mulch your tree as that would reduce the amount of baking of the soil around it by the sun. It will probably also be getting some reflected heat from the pavement - to which you have this tree planted way too close, by the way - you have not allowed for its long term development at all. Just the trunk alone is going to conflict with the concrete in what may end up seeming to be not that much time*.

For a page about the subject written by a researcher with 50 years of experience click on Establishment of Container Grown Plants in the column on the right.

https://rootmaker.com/knowledge-center

*One in Seattle's Evergreen Park Cemetery measured 50 1/2 ft. x 3 ft. 9 3/4 in. x 17 ft. in ~2005. (Height x stem circumference x average crown spread. Older specimens in Europe are double that height; by now the trunk of the Evergreen Park example - if still present - is probably at least about 16 in. thick).

All 3 of the trees I have are on the same watering schedule, and when I water I make sure the root balls get a deep watering (the other 2 trees are from another source and just looked way better from the start). The lawn could use some water but this time of year I pretty much just let it go dormant. The nursery I bought the two smaller weeping sequoias at told me sequoias don't like to be constantly wet and to kind of let them dry out in between waterings. A once a week deep watering is what was advised...perhaps that was wrong advice. I have a mulch ring around the bottom that I bought at Lowe's that is supposed to help with keeping the moisture loss from the sun to a minimum. The two smaller trees I've noticed have a couple limbs here and there that have turned yellow but overall don't look terrible.

Regarding the watering, please read the page I referred to above. New - as in first two years - plantings often need the same frequency of watering during dry spells as if they were still in pots. Certainly this is the case with newly installed stock, hence my description of what has taken place with my own recent planting.

The black thing in your picture looks like a weed prevention collar to me, and is certainly no substitute for an organic or stone mulch 2 in. or more deep and 3 ft. across. Covering of the soil in such a manner is one of the treatments needed to produce a favorable rooting environment for a newly planted tree.

you need a $10 hole for a $5 plant

or in your case , a $100 hole

ron

Well it's been in the ground since late April, too late to widen the hole at this point?

Effective mulching will soften the soil beneath.

Thanks Embothrium. I removed the rubber mulch ring I had on it and replaced with mulch on Tuesday.

One year later

Nice, glad it came through for you.

That thing might still put some serious lift on the pavement after the roots get bigger.

Thanks for the update! :-)

yes , looks good

you can always hire concrete cutter to put a nice 5 ft. circle there

ron

My weeping sequoia's are now 35 years old and the larger one is about 40+ feet high. The last 4 years, they have been inundated by sapsuckers that have literally ringed the entire trunk with their holes. I'm actually having a tree guy coming today to get an estimate on taking them down if I need to. The sapsucker holes have me very concerned as the bark seems to be peeling off too easily and because of their height, they may be more likely to come down in a windstorm especially if weakened by the sapsuckers. I have several unique trees and did a lot of research into all of them before planting. Although they were rated as pest free, I think the changing conditions in the area mainly new home construction has meant the usual species the sapsuckers go for have been removed. Need less to say, I will be heartbroken if my "twisted sisters" have to come down.

Here's one I planted 40 years ago as a six footer. The Sapsuckers are ravaging it too, and because of that it's looking pretty ravaged. It hasn't grown much the last few years and the top is dead. I have 10 or 12 species Sequoiadendrons and the Sapsuckers leave them completely alone. It's a mystery to me.

Here is the whole tree.

And here's one that was weakened by Sapsuckers and broke. It was a lot younger. It's going in the woodshed tomorrow.

Probably have to encase the trunks in wire mesh in order to keep the birds off.

I did have some mesh on the trunks but the damage goes well up the trees. These are not trees you can climb especially at 40' high. The tree arborist came and felt the damage was likely superficial - these trees are good at protecting themselves and they looked healthy otherwise. I know they have some windburn damage from the last couple of cold winters but they also have new growth on the upper branches. He recommended keeping an eye on them more because of their height - they would definitely hit the house or the neighbours if they fell. The bark missing (mainly from my dogs jumping after the sapsuckers) was concerning so I am going to try wrapping the trunk in burlap then plastic mesh to protect it. He did mention that if I did want to have them cut down, they would have to use an aerial bucket. I guess trees on your property always carries a certain amount of risk but it's so worth it to enjoy these giants!

Mine got badly sap-suckered, too. They were about 30-35' tall (three in a group) and the tops died and so I cut them off at about 4'. They are starting to re-leader and look pretty cool.