I had planted almost forty acres of a combination loblolly pine, shumard, white oak, and sawtooth. The first three are native on my land. About 24,000 trees. The worst drought in over 100 years hit that summer and killed 95% of them. Another severe drought hit the next summer and finished most of the remaining trees. The winter of 2013, I had planted 23 acres of loblolly pine and willow oak. They were planted on ground where loblolly and willow oak had been cleared 20 years earlier. Two years later, in the spring of 2015, the flood of record hit and the trees were completely inundated with water for 60 days. Had they been five or six years old and had their heads above water - they might have pulled through. But they didnt. I had quality trees planted, native to my ground, by professional tree planters - and two of the most severe weather events in the last 100 years hit within four years of one another. So, no, the lack of success was not due to poor selection of trees or planting technique. I have also planted a number of apple, peach, and plum trees and I knock the fruit out of them the first five or six years - and the coons still break all the branches and all the fruit is still taken by coons, possums, crows, and squirrels. I just recently had a five year old apple tree persish - I am assuming to this years drought - less than two inches of rain since the first week of May with temps as high as 107 degrees. Wouldnt have mattered - the tree next to it was literally torn apart by the critters when the apples were the size of quarters. So for me, it is the already growing persimmon. I do have a couple of dunstan cheastnuts about five years old that actually bloomed this year. Maybe they will beat the odds and make something one day.