Austrian Pine Seedlings Dying

[Mattemma]

About a month ago I got 9 AP seedlings.I think they are a year or 2 old.Got them from county soil and water bagged up with some water gel stuff.

I started planting them around my yard and noticed that they are dying.Do these trees need very acidic soil? I put one in my old compost along with nanking cherry,mulberry,elderberry....and it is now brown.

I gave the last 2 to my mom hoping she would have better luck. I have another planted in the ground going yellow,and 2 in pots that are still green.

If you have dealt with seedlings please let me know how you kept them healthy.

Thank you!!!!!!

 

[patandchickens]

No, they just want normal average soil. I would guess that the likeliest problem is that they were simply too small to have high survival when planted out... if you're planting, like, 50 acres of them it is fine to put them in the ground and have 50% survival but if you only bought five of the trees then you want to take extra care

I would suggest that the ones in pots, stay in pots for at least the rest of the growing season. If any of the ones in the ground look like they have some chance of survival, you could either dig them up (carefully-gently-bareroot) and pot them, or erect a windbreak and afternoon sun shade around them, and be SUPER careful with their watering and drainage, and cross your fingers. The one in the compost probably got too wet or too dry.

Generally though leetle tiny woody plants that are sold will do a whole lot better if grown on in a pot for a year or more before planting into the ground. Again, it's different if you're doing plantation-scale stuff, but for the backyard gardener, it's worth coddling them.

JME, good luck, have fun,

Pat