Beginner Gardening: Red Rocket Crape Myrtle Leaves Turning Dark/Black, 0 by Nickles

Nickles wrote:
Hi there! I\'m hoping that some more experienced gardeners can offer some advice or solutions for my crape myrtle problem.

I purchase a 7-gallon Red Rocket crape myrtle from a well-reviewed nursery where I live in Austin, TX and planted it about a month ago. When I got it, the leaves were all nice and green. However, in the past week, a good amount of leaves have turned a dark black color (see pics). There\'s nothing on the leaves, like sooty mold. They\'re just turning black!

I flooded the tree when I first planted it and have been watering it about 3 times per week. I have clayey soil and live on a newly developed lot. When I planted, I added compost to the soil, as per nursery advice. However, it was pretty hard to mix the compost into the clay soil texture, so I probably wound up creating a bit of a layered effect of clay/compost. I also felt like there may be more bug bites on the leaves than I thought were present when I first bought the tree (if that means anything).

I am a totally clueless beginner when it comes to plant life. I\'ve never kept any plant I owned alive for more than a month and am really worried that I\'ve failed yet again. As an adult, I\'ve always lived in apartments, but I recently purchased my first home. Now, I must keep a whole yard and lots of other plants alive, and I just don\'t know what the hell I\'m doing.