Overwatering During a Drought Part 2?

The primary reason the trees of many homeowners are dying back is due to them being over watered too often and is not the drought. Yes, the drought has killed many trees in nature (that is also primarily due to loss of underground water used up by humans).  Trees only require watering at most once a week and more likely once a month would take care of they’re watering needs. Trees would love a good monthly deep watering as opposed to short shallow more often (2 or 3 times a week, really?) watering. Shallow watering only promotes shallow roots and damages the main tap roots which are their primary water source. By not watering deep enough, you are destroying the water source along with their primary nutritional sources. Reduce their mineral intake and they become a food source for pests like bark Beetles. Trees protect themselves from attack by secretion of sap which kills them. A healthy tree first off would not get attacked, but if it did, then it would be able to protect itself from the pest attack.

The primary source of overwatering of owners trees is the lawn. If your tree is anywhere near a lawn and you water the lawn for say five mins threes times per week, you will be setting the tree up for root damage as well as nutritional loss. Many folks are watering even more! Drowning the soil kills off all the beneficial microbes that the tree and the grass rely upon. The lawn (gardener and homeowner) needs to be trained so that you water only at most twice per week with a third time during hot weather. The trees should be on their water line and should get watered only once a month at two gals per hour for at least 1 or 2 hrs depending on the soil.  You really should not have trees and lawns together but if you do, then use only organic fertilizers for the trees and the lawn.

To train the lawn, it would need to be aerated several times per year and top dressed with compost, and then only fertilized with an organic lawn fertilizer. Organic fertilizers will not damage the trees roots systems as chemical fertilizers do.

By treating the lawn with a good organic fertilizer, it will also help the trees to recover. The trees should all be placed on a separate line for drip only and watered only once a month for about 1/2 Hr to 2  hours depending on the health of the soil. The soil will have to be brought back to life since over watering drowns all soil microbes. Your task would be to bring the soil back to life, and in turn,  everything else will grow better with it that way.

If the tree has dieback, it will need to get a severe haircut. All dead wood needs to be removed. Get a good tree company to come and prune it. They will need to come first. They should do this asap so that these next few months, you can treat the tree(s) and the soil. These next few months are suitable for treating, and results should show by April. By April if you start now.

With proper care of the soil and good nutrition, all the trees should recover.  However, if you continue to over water, then they will get the same results with any new trees planted.

All fertilizations of the property including the lawn care should be done organically. The addition of rock dust, compost, and mulch (azalea/gardenia mix) is crucial.  You will need to add to convert to a drip system. It would be best if a separate line were used for trees. It is important to take care of the soil needs properly. Protect it from heat by proper composting and mulching. Use the tree vents to establish a microbial colony in your soil. This colony will grow and provide not only nutrition but also provide protection from many pests and diseases. Tree vents are clay drain pipes (or in Malibu, they are called wine holders at the Bourget Brothers in Santa Monica). These are about 4 inches wide and about 2 feet long (or deep). They go into the ground in a place where there are trees. They get placed about midway between the trunk and the drip line of the tree. Four tree vents per tree are all that is needed. Run a drip line over it and place 1 2 gals per hour drip head. Use a grate which you can buy that fits on it and attach the drip head to the grate. Inside you will want to add Live Compost and a small amount of rock dust and a small amount of organic fertilizer with the microbes.

This mixture should be renewed every year.  You can also add earthworm castings. The drip should allow water to flow thru the mix and soak deeper into the ground. At first, the water may not go down, so watch it. After a while, it should start to absorb more water so that you can allow dripping longer. So when you first try it, wait and see how long it takes before the tree vent gets filled up with water and then set the timer for that. Check once a month and lengthen. Take a long look around. How is everything doing? Too much water signs will start to show(burned tips of leaves), or not enough water signs will start to show (droopy leaves). You have these next few months to get it together before the heat sets in and your gardener or you will find themselves watering a lot and not knowing why things are dying. Remember, it is better to underwater than to overwater.

Thanks

Merry Christmas also.

Any questions? Email me andylopez@invisiblegardener.com

Andy Lopez

Invisible Gardener