I planted a 10 gallon Chinese Pistache in my back yard about 7 months ago (North side of my house, full sun) and over Memorial Day weekend while I was out of town it died. The bad part about this is that this was a tree I planted to replace another Chinese Pistache that had died in the same place (it lasted about 1 year). I have another Chinese Pistache that I planted at the same time as my first one about 20 feet away that's doing just fine. Both trees got the same amount of water, fertilizer, etc. I also haven't had any problems with anything else growing around the two trees I've had die (flowers and grass). I couldn't find any signs of bug infestation, so I'm at a loss for what killed it. I'd like to replace it, again, but not if I'm going to have to replace this one in another 7-10 months.

HELP!!!!

That is really odd. Was the tree dead-dead or did it just drop all its leaves? You can tell if there's life in a branch by scraping the bark back and seeing if there is any green under there.

You said this and the healthy one both got the same water, fertilizer and so forth. Two other things to check: drainage and light exposure. Is one area being shaded part of the day vs the other one? How does the drainage compare in the two sites? Yo'd be surprised how that can differ in as little as 10 feet.

How about under the soil? Any chance the hurt tree encountered a utility line of some sort?

The leaves are drying up and falling off. I haven't scraped the bark, so I'll try that tonight. As for the sun and drainage it should be the same. Both are on the North side of my house (which faces East) so they both get full sun most all day. And my backyard has a slight slope to it that is even accross the entire section they're in (the grass on the downside of the slope from both trees is always very healthy and green). I thought there might be something in the soil, but I didn't encounter anything when I planted them and I can't immagine the roots made it out that far in 7 months, but I could be wrong.

Check for ANY signs of damage and then dig around both a bit and compare the soil. Just a few feet in the same yard can mean a large difference in drainage, and I'm not talking about surface runoff. I'm talking soil absorption and distribution of water.

It can mean the difference between between black clay with a trace of white rock and black clay covering a massive vein of nearly solid white rock.

Let us know what you find.

I scraped away some bark just know and the tree is still green, so I guess it's stil alive, sort of. I'll check the soil this weekend and let you know what I find.

Thanks for all the help!!

I have a Chinese Pistache that I transplanted last summer, the leaves changed color and fell off for the winter and now no new growth that I can see. Like yours though, you scratch the bark and it's green underneath. So I don't think it's dead. But what do I do to bring it back to life and get some leaves. I'm just giving it a lot of water. Don't know what else to do. To the last poster...what are you doing to help yours?

This is just my own personal preference, but it's been my experience that even a 10 gallon tree will often struggle in full Texas sun if it's sandy soil. I try to plant saplings. Their root systems are more intact and better equipped to support its top.