Watering Trees In Late Summer

A hot and dry summer can leave your plants feeling parched. It's important for trees to have adequate moisture now because they're forming buds for next year's growth. If the rainfall has been sparse in your area, it's time to give them a drink.

John Fech is an extension educator at the University of Nebraska. He says the first step is to figure out how dry the soil is. Grab the biggest screwdriver you can find and slowly push it into the ground.

"You can tell a couple things from that. First of all, just how hard it is, what's the resistance of you pushing it into the ground? If it goes in easily and makes kind of a sloshing sound and then you pull it out and the water is dripping off of it, the tree is too wet," says Fech. "If you try to push it into the ground and it's really hard to push it into the ground, and then when you finally do you pull it out and it's powder-dry on the end of the screwdriver blade, it's too dry. You want that happy medium."

If the soil is too dry, it's time to water. It should be done over the entire root system, which is an area two-to-three-times as wide as the spread of the leaves. Sprinkler system, soaker hose – however you do it is up to you, but the goal is to get moisture to the roots in a slow and deliberate manner.

"For an acreage situation, a rain train is a very good device for a larger space around trees," he says. "It's very easy to set, come back an hour later and reset it and have it go north and south then come back and go east and west the other direction. It's very efficient at delivering the water, you don't get much evaporation with a rain train. So, under those kinds of settings, that's what I would recommend."

The water-absorbing roots are within the top two feet of soil. Keep these roots moist but not wet.