Its in shock and dying of thirst. Was it very root bound? When they are, and seems they usually are, they are difficult to establish, seems the hard root ball won't take in moisture or root into the surrounding soil so its like the soil being out of the pot even though its planted in the ground, the ground is wicking away the water. I quit buying big root bound grasses that are marked down at the end of the season, this has happened to me too many times. My suggestion is to dig it up, loosen the roots as much as possible (cut and bang it onto something hard like concrete) and maybe soak it in a bucket of water to loosen it up then replant making sure the soil makes good contact with the roots. At least its not blooming, they really go into shock then because the energy is going to the blooms.

Yes it was root bound, I did break up the bottom of the roots about three inches into it..... Should I take it out still?

I'll continue to water each day, I was scared to over water so I was doing it every other day. I'll go back to everyday . I hope it survives!!

If they were tightly girdled around the perimeter of the pot, take them out because those roots will continue to girdle around in a circle. Cut the roots along the sides and loosen it as much as possible, soak the ball in a bucket and replant tamping the soil in good around the roots so its no longer a solid packed pot looking thing like a cork that is separate from the surrounding soil. Trust me, when you take it out its not going to look any different than when you planted it & it won't make any difference to the plant, you can probably just pull them out of the ground and the roots will still be shaped like a pot, matter of fact, they will look like that next spring as well if it was a solid mass of girdled roots, thats been my experience.

They won't go dormant until it gets cold. Hopefully you can get some root growth this fall but I wouldn't expect much.

Ok thank you so much for the advice!

well that was a bust....I pulled out two of the three and the roots seem to be unbound , loose and growing. I hope I did not make it worse now.

So now not sure what it is?

Could I be overwatering? How often do they need to be watered until established?

If when I plant anything during the heat of the summer I water every day for a couple of weeks then start tapering off. Heat is really hard on plants trying to establish themselves.

And water deeply- a pass with a hose doesn't cut it. Water a little then move to a different plant, then go back and water some more- do this a couple of times to make sure that the water is penetrating the root area and not just running off.

Thank you, that's exactly what I've been doing since I started to notice the brown. Hasn't gotten worse but not better yet.

How did you grasses turn out? i just planed a bunch of grasses and a couple started doing what yours did and curious if you found a good way to rectify them?

root booster

Root booster? Want kind/label

No ya don't :-)) Anything that purports to be a "root booster" is just a marketing gimmick. Studies have shown that no particular 'starter' fertilizer, root boosters or high P ferts recommended as root simulants have any significant benefit and do not promote root development. If planting at this time of year - mid growing season - all you need is sufficiently frequent watering to the depth of the rootball.

And don't forget to butterfly and soak the rootball before planting, as mentioned previously.

Yep, what do ya know! I dug up my recently planted morning light…..and they were def rootbound! A must step