Watering Trees??

[Old John]

We saw a thing on TV last week about the Drought killing trees, in our area.
Our County is one that's under an Extreme Drought. And, some of the trees are beginning to wilt and or lose their leaves. We have a few trees that are less than 5 years old. Those seem to be in the worse shape.

One of the articles on TV said you can help your trees live through the Drought by giving them 5 Gallons of water a week. A different article said you need to use 15 Gallons each week.
The last two weeks I've been putting 5 gallons of water at the base of each tree. We live in the woods, with a lot of specimin trees around the yard & down the drive, apples, crabapples, black walnuts, redbuds pines, spruces & junipers. I don't want to lose them.
ETA.......After two weeks watering them they are perking up & the wilt is gone.
So, I think I'm doing some good by watering them??

[Alice In TX/MO]

Yes. I'm watering some of mine. I have a big plastic barrel that's about 35 gallons or so with a crack in the bottom. I put it in the back of my little trailer that's pulled behind the riding lawn mower, fill it, and park it next to the tree so the water dribbles out over the course of several hours.

[Belfrybat]

I'm watering mine -- twice a month for ornamentals and once a week for the fruit trees. The rule of thumb I'm going with is 10 gallons per inch diameter. There are dead trees all over town from last year's drought, and we didn't have enough rain this spring to really deep water the trees. The tress around the house are only 3 years old, so they'd need some supplemental watering even without the drought. Even though I'm watering, I've lost a pear tree and looks like one of the peaches is going belly-up. So disappointing.

[julieq]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Yes. I'm watering some of mine. I have a big plastic barrel that's about 35 gallons or so with a crack in the bottom. I put it in the back of my little trailer that's pulled behind the riding lawn mower, fill it, and park it next to the tree so the water dribbles out over the course of several hours.

Great idea Alice! I'll be thinking about that later this morning when I'm carrying buckets to water our new fruit trees. Fortunately all our older trees around the garden are on a drip system with hoses connected to irrigation pipes when we run the pond pump once a week. We really need to extend the system to the new trees in the near future.

[salmonslayer]

We are watering some of our trees too but I think not all trees are going to die off if they lose their leaves. In some areas close to us it looks like fall with trees completely devoid of leaves or all yellow or brown. For some reason our Hawthorns are doing great in the heat and we havent watered them at all and they were just planted last year.

[MOgal]

We have a line of gingkoes and pecan trees along each side of our driveway. The gingkoes are about 30-35 years old, planted about the time the house was built but the pecan trees are some we planted about 14 years ago. So far 3 of the gingkoes have dropped leaves completely while the pecan trees are still green without watering. I'm watering the fruit trees in the yard regularly and, fingers crossed, so far, so good.

[Danaus29]

Yes, new plantings should be watered. They don't have a large enough root system (after transplanting) to support themselves.

I've already lost 3 blueberry bushes that were planted last year. Just too hot to carry water that far and I was lax in checking on them.

[ksfarmer]

Some good information about watering trees in this bulletin from K-State.
http://www.hfrr.ksu.edu/doc3432.ashx

[Old Vet]

they sell a product called tree gaiter.It holes around 15 gallons. You place it on the ground around a tree and pole a hole in it and it will water for about 5 days.