Winter Watering Guidelines

Water trees once to twice a month when the temperature is above 45 degrees and the ground is not frozen.

Water trees at a rate of 5-10 gallons of water per inch of trunk diameter at breast height (DBH).

Be sure to water in a broadcast nature simulating a rainstorm over as broad a soil area as possible to ensure water is available to as much of the root system as possible.

Do not just drop a hose at the base of the tree!

Try to avoid getting trunks and branches wet but between the options of watering and getting trunks wet or not watering at all be sure to water just know getting trunks and branches wet can increase the likelihood of fungal pathogens taking hold in your plantings.

A common question I get is “How do I know how much water I am putting down and how long should I water?” You want to put whatever spreader you are using to simulate that rainstorm on the end of your hose and put it in a 5 gallon bucket. Open your water valve a specific number of turns to ensure a consistent flow rate and time how long it takes the bucket to fill. Divide that time by 5 and you have your seconds per gallon flow rate.

I like to quadrant off my trees so for example if I have a 10” diameter tree and my flow rate is 8 seconds per gallon. I will need to put down 100 gallons of water and it will take 800 seconds to do so. I will position my spreader to cover a quarter of the area I am trying to water and run the hose for 200 seconds putting down approximately 25 gallons of water. Move the spreader to the next zone and repeat until finished.

If you want to winter water your trees but this sounds like a giant pain that you don't want to deal with, it is a service I offer. I do it a bit differently with a spike that spreads water under the soil line. If you are interested in this service do not hesitate to contact me.