Ash leaves folding

I have a newly planted young ash, and the leaves have folded like tacos. Still green, still adding new growth, but I wondered if it is a symptom of something I should change. Too much or too little water, soil compacted too tightly? Needs some nutrient?

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They are pretty young trees.

Is the new growth folded like the other leaves? Have the leaves just gotten like this in the last couple of days or have they been like this for the last two weeks? It looks like two weeks ago your area experienced a hard freeze.

Here's a pic of new growth. Some are folded, some not. I live on a high hill, the ground slopes to gullies east and west, a wide valley north, so I haven't had any frost for a long while. The uncovered veggie garden is doing fine. I'm kinda leaning toward too little water. There is so much clay in my soil that I worry about rotting the roots. I'm going to give it a good soak (haven't in a week) and see what the leaves do. If it is a lack of oxygen at the roots because of the clayish soil I guess I really have a problem :-(

My guess is the leaves are folding to conserve moisture...probably needs a good soak.

When you water it, how long do you water it for?

I carry water to them in buckets, so measure it in gallons, slowly so it soaks in. It's been cold, and the leaves only came out in the last month or so, so I can't give a consistent amount. Maybe a gallon to two gallons, once a week to ten days, depending on the weather? Since I worry so much about the clay I guess it's not enough? If I overwater I'll see yellow leaves?

When soil is as dry as yours, there is a wicking effect. You know when you dip a corner of a paper towel in a spot of water on the counter and the water wicks up the dry part of the towel? A similar thing happens in the soil. If the rest of the soil around your tree is bone dry, as I suspect it is looking at the pictures, then the two gallons of water you are putting down isn't doing much. You really need to be dragging a hose out to your tree and watering with the hose on a decent trickle for about two hours at a time once a week. It's a deep watering like that, that helps the young tree establish a good root system. In your area, with the amount of rain you get, your really should have this thing on an irrigation system.

Ok, more water I can and will do :-) but we live 'off grid' and haul our water from a local public well-pay a quarter per 30 gallons of water-then I put the water into a large Rubbermaid tank, and from there it's the bucket brigade to the garden and trees. So I'll just keep pouring enough each day to see damp soil in a wide circle around the trees.
Anxiously awaiting those wonderful summer monsoons!

Wow. That sounds exhaustive. You should really invest in this product:

http://www.treegator.com/home/

You put the water in the bag and it slow releases it into the root base over a 4-6 hour period. Given your situation, this would be very beneficial.

Those look pretty cool! I'm not sure what the desert heat would do to them, or rather, how hot the water inside would get. I have a lot of white rocks around here that I have used as a kind of reflective mulch, since anything organic like straw or wood chip 'goes with the wind'. Believe it or not, some plants and trees are thriving, like the pegranates, a very spoiled mulberry, and a shrub rose. I'm learning to adapt to these gardening conditions, and hopefully won't kill too many things in the process.
Is that your gorgeous house in that pic? Or part of the advertisement?

Haha..nope not mine just part of the ad.

You should try xeriscaping. Have you lived in the area long? There are a TON of natives and such that do great in your area. My parents live 45 minutes SE of Phoenix but they are originally from eastern PA. They had to get used to a whole different way of gardening. Lucky for them, they have a full irrigation system but there are plenty of plants that don't require irrigation that are also beautiful.

We've got desert museum palo verdes that are really struggling here, I think it's the cooler nights. I keep trying to grow some Mexican bird of paradise from seed but no luck so far. The desert willow is doing well, and a Deodor pine, and an arizona rosewood- and the marigolds and petunias seem to love it. But I suspect I've been under watering a lot of things because they are drought tolerant, but I think this area just gets too little rain to contribute enough. But you should have seen the wildflowers after the heavy winter rains last year!
This is a pic of what's native here-Joshua's, chollas, yuccas, and catclaw acacias, with a few hedgehog cacti here and there. I'm getting a grape arbor started just so my eyes can feast on some deep green!

What is Deodor Pine? Does it grow like a Deodor Cedar?

I'm a big fan of cholla cactus; it's my favorite one out there. My parents have some Mexican BOP and that is gorgeous too! I went out in August one year and was able to see it in bloom. Usually we go in the winter around Thanksgiving. There's a lot you can grow in your area. Have you looked into different varieties of sage?

Mountaindweller, that landscape sure looks cool!

Pseudo, you're right, it's a cedar! Deodor I was sure of, couldn't remember which one!
Mipii, thanks, I'm really starting to enjoy all the different plants.
Sequoia, I've notice two types of sage out here, I have one beautiful plant that recently bloomed a pretty purple that's growing by the gate (it was here when we got here) and a gorgeous dark bluish purple type grows out by Meadview on the Colorado river. But I haven't tried to landscape with them yet. I'm kinda playing with the idea of marking out a few square feet of the uncleared part of the property and watering it A Lot to see if I can bring up the native flowers that way. I know there are many gorgeous 'ephemerals' in the soil, just waiting for the right conditions. I've already noticed that the Joshua's only bloom after a very hard cold spell, and then they create new 'arms'. No cold, no bloom, no branching. At least, that's what I've seen so far.
As for the chollas, they are everywhere, and my poor dogs have learned how to pull them out with their mouths, but each day after our walk, when they get back from their jackrabbit chases, I have to pull the spines from their lips and paws. The rats use them to build nests, too, so I can always tell when there is a new pack rat around, I find the cholla balls lying around in different areas. It absolutely amazes me to watch the antelope squirrels go scrambling all over the chollas without getting hurt! And yesterday I saw a thrasher fly into a rather large specimen, and I caught a glimpse of a nest in there. Everything has a purpose, I guess!
It might be my imagination, but I think the ash trees are already looking 'happier'. I'll give it a few weeks and take some more pics. This is a hedgehog cactus in bloom

Nice cacti! Yeah the landscape down there definitely has a purpose for all the things living around there. There's a good mail order you can check out, www.blackfootnatives.com. The owner, Kathy, is really easy to work with. I've ordered from her before and am awaiting an order in the next couple weeks. I just made a xeric garden and needed a bunch of plants for it.

Beautiful blooms too! Seq, is it http://www.blackfootnativeplants.com/
'cause your link didn't work and I was going to check them out come drought or high water...lol.

I'd love to see pics of your xeriscape garden-I guess I'm surprised you would need to do that back east? And you too, Mipii? I thought those areas got lots of rain? And thank you for the link, too.

We have to take advantage of micro-climates to get some winter hardy succulents and cacti to grow. Some areas are naturally drier and warmer. We can't do what you can do...but, we can pretend.

Lol!! If you only knew how hard I'm trying to pretend to have what you have! Shade, cool green spaces! I'm using a microclimate to try to grow a foxglove! I guess that's human nature, though :-)

Ha, ha, ha...yes, human nature. Remember, in order to have the cool green lush spaces, you also have to put up with the bitter 6 months of cold and grey skies...

Sigh, if only one could pick and choose their own custom elements and seasons!

I lived in both Michigan and Missouri as a child.... I don't miss the bugs or humidity, although I did enjoy the snow! But yes, 6 months locked inside wouldn't suit me at all! Those 'cold' months here are the only times I'm not on rattlesnake alert!
In a few years the trees will offer shade, we'll have found the best shrubs for windbreaks, and we might even have our own well, no more water-haul! Then it will be the best of all worlds.
So what kind of desert/dry land plants are you growing?

Haha...let's hear it for microclimates!!!

Mipii...you're right, my link was wrong. The one you have is the correct one. Great site!

I'll definitely post pics of the xeric garden once it's all planted and looking nice. I spoke with Kathy at blackfoot last week and she said she's going to wait for the plants to break dormancy before she ships them. I guess it was snowing there last week :(

My xeric garden partially under the overhang of our bi-level and it's south facing. South facing areas of buildings in our area don't get as much rain as north facing sides. It's also currently full sun but as the tree in the front grows, it will become part sun.

It would be great to have your own well! That will really kick off your garden :)

I'm growing the following:

Castilleja Miniata
Eriophyllum lanatum
Heterotheca villosa
Ipomopsis aggregata
Liatris punctata
Linum lewisii
Lupinus argenteus
Ratibida columnifera Mexican Hat
Penstemon mexicali Pike's Peak Purple
Penstemon eriantherus
Hymenoxys acaulis

Some I got from High Country Gardens but most I am getting from Blackfoot Native Plants.

The Indian paintbrush is one that grows in this area, and the sun dancer daisy looks like something similar to the brittlebush plant. They all are very pretty. Do you have to alter your soil? Those things need an alkaline soil, I think?
Hmmm. I wonder if there is a big market for desert dirt back east?

I don't think I'll be amending the soil. It's fairly poor soil as it is. I thought about perhaps adding some sand to the mix when I planted them but I'm not sure I'll do that or not. I was digging around in there the other day because I needed to remove soil to regrade the spot and it is a fair amount of clay. Now that I'm thinking about it, it might be a good idea to add a little something to make it better draining.

Clay and sand or gravel sound good. And the less organic material the better. Maybe if you covered the area with black plastic completely to keep rain off, and covered it with gravel?
I think part of what makes soil alkaline is that the salts never really get washed out of the soil. The moisture evaporates up into the air. So maybe the plastic isn't the right way after all.

Yeah it's got plenty of clay so I might just put in some sand in the mix when I install the plants.