collected pyracantha care... don't want to over water them

I have the seven collected pyracantha in the ground with very minor wilting. I sprayed the leaves with "wilt proof" and this seems to help. The shoots which were growing when they were "ripped out" are still elongating. I prune over 50% of the foliage and tried to get them into the shadiest part of my yard. Some of the new tips are wilting by the end of the day. We are in the middle of another heat wave; 100f temps. I have watered each tree with approx one gallon of water daily; every morning. When I get home from work, some of the tips are "slightly" wilted,but become turgid again by the next morning. This morning watering seems to keep them hydrated. "duh!" I wonder, though, if this is too much water? I know its too soon to tell, but I don't want to rot the roots. The garden soil they are in is not heavy and drains well. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
I will also put some shade cloth over them, as they receive apporx 4-5 hours of direct sun; that's the shadiest place I could plant them, where there was/is decent soil. Other areas in my yard have hard clay soil.
Thank you IBC for your help!
Todd

Let's see some pics of said material.

I knew I forgot something . I'll take some pictues tomorrow and have them posted by nighttime, Eastern Standard Time. Thanks, Seth.

Todd Ellis wrote:... ... I sprayed the leaves with "wilt proof" and this seems to help. ... ...

Hello Todd!
Could you kindly inform a novice about "wilt proof".
What is it exactly? I have never heard of this before in my country!
Thank you!


PS: wish you good luck with your trees!

Two immediate things spring to mind. Firethorn is not generally happy at the roots being disturbed/pruned...just one of those things. Secondly they are copious drinkers and like moisture. My large FT (avatar picture) is in a fairly deep pot and will not tolerate one day without watering and will wilt for a pastime.

Others I have had over the years respond reasonably well but overhead watering does seem to help.

Good luck

Mike

Hi Todd
I started collecting firethorn last year at various times to see what worked best. Autumn to Late Spring. Late spring ended up being a bit of a heat wave and I found closer to the beginning of Spring gave best results. Early Winter had the tree sitting in wet soil most Winter and it did not seem to mind but the spring trees over took it in recovery.
I have found as stated above when they are going well they use alot of water.
All of this is mostly irrelevant to what I suggest the problem is you are facing. I have noticed this wilting of leaves in soil that is still moist with various species to spring back in cooler temps.
One of the bonsai blogs put this exact scenario up as a little quiz as to what the issue was. The eventual answer given was that some surface roots had been damaged in heat the previous season so the tree had limited roots to supply the leaves with enough moisture. I thought this was a little bit too narrow a view but expand this to be there was not enough roots are in general to keeping up with supplying the leaves with moisture. Lack of roots could be from many scenarios not just sun burn.
So my best guess about your problem at the moment is simply that after collecting there is not enough roots to supply all the moisture that the leaves need in the heat. As you say they are springing back by morning I think that is a very good sign.
Oh I just realised you have them in the ground. Shade cloth is a very good idea I would also suggest misting the leaves to supplement their water supply. I have not tried this yet but I reckon some weak foliar feed could be a good idea to supply some nutrients that the roots can't yet. Maybe early in the morning on the cooler days after you have shade cloth up.
I am guessing "wilt proof is something similar we have here called Drought shield. The idea is it reduces the transpiration from the leaves. I experimented with this last year but not sure I like the idea when I don't know how it effects the tree overall.
Apparently it is great to reduce the transpiration in leaves when doing cuttings so the idea is good for collected material as well but jujst very unsure how all this is achieved apart from the idea that it closes the stomata.
Hope something there helps you manage a recovery plan.

If they're in the ground, I doubt you CAN overwater them.

Good luck.

Thanks, Jim. I was thinking along those same lines. However, I lost both of the collected scot pines this Summer and I tried to keep them well hydrated. Of course, they may have died from other causes, but I needed reassurance. "Sometimes common sense is just too simple to accept!

Pyracantha in the ground. The table frame is for the shade cloth.