How to keep your trees healthy

With the ongoing, never ending drought Texas has been in the last several years, many trees are showing signs of stress.  Obviously the best thing to do to help them through the drought is to water them. But what is the best way to water them?

During a drought, mature trees need to be watered about once a week.  Younger trees should be watered about three times a week.  To determine if it is time to water the tree, take a screwdriver and place in into the soil near the tree.  If you can't get the screwdriver in 6-8 inches, it is time to water because your soil is dried up.

While you may only need to water the tree once a week, you need to water it deeply when you do.  The preferred method for watering is with a garden hose or a soaker hose.  Start close to the trunk and keep moving the hose until you have covered the ground under the entire canopy.  You want to run the hose until the ground is no longer absorbing the water in each area before moving the hose.  The best way to check this is the doing the screwdriver test every 30 minutes until you

can easily push the screwdriver in 6-8 inches into the soil.

If you an irrigation system, check if your tree is getting enough water from it with the above mentioned screwdriver method.  If it isn't, you should supplement it using your garden hose or a soaker hose.

For more detailed information on watering your trees in drought conditions, check out the Texas Forest Service's website at http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu