Two Arbutus Marina Trees Newly Planted but Possibly dead?

[Kernhills]

First off thank you all for my help. I am in the process of trying to find a local arborist as well to come take a first hand look at these two trees, but figured I would reach out to the group as well. I recently planted two multi-trunk 4' Arbutus Marina Strawberry trees, each on a seperate side of my front yard as a large landscaping project. The trees arrived from a wholesale nursery in 22" boxes and looked to be in good health. I dug a large hole for each tree, at least 1 1/2 times the size of the box. Within a week of planting, the leaves on both of the trees had dried up almost entirely and turned brown. We had a serious heat spell around this time as well, but the trees were well watered. I was looking for some new growth to possibly sprout somewhere on the trees after a few weeks, but still yet to see anything. The climate where we are at is supposed to be suitable as well, and the soil is sandy. I tried a few gallons of mixed superthrive/water last week to see if I could give them a boost, but still no changes. I scraped back some bark on a few of the branches and found that it is still green and moist, but the dead leaves continue to cling to all the branches (some areas more green than others). I am including a few pics of the trees for you all to take a look at. At $250 a piece, I'm hoping they didn't croak... I've seen a few fruit trees I've planted turn brown the first few weeks in the ground, but normally some new growth pops up when they recover. I've been watering it manually every three days or so to try and avoid too much water.... Maybe that can be adjusted as well. Any ideas on whether they are living or what I can do to improve their condition? Thanks again!!!!!!!!

 

[beastmaster]

Its possible they went into shock. Was the root ball kept intact? Some trees easily go into shock. To much or to little water then what their use to can cause a newly planted tree to appear dead and lose its leaves some times.
It looks like it still has lots of life from where you scraped it.
Don't over water it or fertilize it. Some people recommend B1 but its not really been proven. Don't let the planting hole stay damp. Be patient and wait it out maybe even spring.

 

[derwoodii]

We had a serious heat spell around this time as well,

i suspect transplant & heat shock. How hot? was hot pls eg like 3 days over 90 F & did other established garden plants suffer and is the gravel surface a possible refection of heat or heat sink to roots..

The root ball ratio to canopy can be issue in establishing trees in summer conditions as well, how big was the trees root ball ?

http://www.metrotrees.com.au/stock-attributes/
The root mass of the tree must be in balance with the size of the canopy. You cannot grow a 4m tree in 20 litres of soil mix and establish it quickly in the landscape: this root-to-shoot imbalance will produce a difficult-to-establish tree. We recommend the following container sizes to canopy height to give the correct root-to-shoot ratio:

Container Maximum Height
15-20 litre container 1.5 to 2.0 m maximum height
10.5 - 13.5 Gal 6 to 7 feet maximum height
75-100 litre container 3.1 to 4.0 m maximum height


If still green as seen under the bark it may come back tho i am not familiar with species response keep it as beast master says damp but not wet.