Hi, I recently planted a 3-4 year tree I got from the nursery. I mixed the soil with some potting soil and lots of organic compost. The tree I bought was in a 16" Box full of roots. I planted it, watered heavily. 3 days later I stuck in some citrus fertilizer stakes, and watered heavily again. I havent watered since (almost two weeks) the ground is still moist at root level. I noticed that many of the green leaves began curling up and all of the flowers fell off. Should I be concerned?

Probably so. You made a common mistake in thinking that you were doing your tree a favor adding organic material to the hole when you planted-- that could kill it. The proper way to plant a citrus tree is to dig a hole just barely larger than the rootball and backfil with the same soil.

I would suggest replanting in a new hole without amendments.

mnematrv, in your post you did not say how large of a hole you dug. As Skeet said, the hole should be only large enough to accept the new tree's root ball. If you dug a large hole and planted the tree into it, the tree is now setting in a "lake bed". With heavy watering the hole fills up and the root system is setting in water. As Skeet pointed out, the addition of organic amendments has made a poor situation worse. I would follow Skeets recommendations and replant the tree properly. I would recommend that you NOT use fertilizer spikes, but rather granular fertilizer. Lastly, please go back to your profile and add either your location or the temperate zone that you are located in. Take care - Millet

It is best to not add any fertilizer to a newly planted tree. A new tree is best warered in with root stimulator or miracle growth half strength. Personally, I do not like the fertilizer spikes. After the tree has been in the ground a year my preferance is a 15-510 ration that has the trace element built in. also a little extra magnesium (epson salts) helps.

Thank you for your replies. The hole I dug was about 2x the size of the root ball and about the same depth. I checked the moisture with a meter yesterday, and was surprised to find that the soil in the root area are dry, however the soil outside of the rootball area is wet. When I was planting I found the rootball to be very very dense with roots, a nursery box pretty much ready to pop... Should I have broken up the root ball so that it wouldnt hold the box shape but be more spread out?

If I do replant, I need to plant the tree in the same spot, because I dont have another spot to plant at. What should I do then?

5/25/08 - After finding the rootball dry yesterday, I watered with about 2 gallons. Today even more leaves have curled up. It looks like Im killing a pretty healthy tree.

You might quickly take your tree out off the ground before it dies.
You can keep you tree out for few days (or more) if you don't let the root ball completely dry. Smell the root ball, it can give you an idea of what is happening; rottenness, mildew or good earth smell.
Then think over to find the cause.

I think I figured it out. The soil is dry. I dont know why this tree is drinking so much water. I deep watered it today, and just hours later it seemed like its coming back. Very strange, maybe I should have washed the root ball.

I pretty much planted the root ball as is 16"x16" square of dense roots and old soil.