Watering Guidelines
Protect Your Investment With Proper Watering and Care
Water is a vital and necessary resource for all living organisms. Trees and plants require water to live and thrive. Watering newly transplanted plants or trees is necessary to allow the new organism to establish itself in its new environment. Water provides the tree with the elements that it needs to survive. Water combines with carbon dioxide and sunlight to make sugar (food for the tree). Water and oxygen then evaporate through the tree's leaves in a process called transpiration which is how the plant breathes.
When To Water
Knowing how much water your plants need depends on several factors, such as soil composition, environmental temperature, how many other plants may be competing for water, species of tree or plant, and the list goes on. Here are some good general rules that will be a good starting point for your plant care. You should water...
Before Planting: Proper watering starts at planting! When we install your new plant or tree we make sure to "water it in". We make sure to saturate the root ball and the surrounding soil where the new plant will live. Delivering 2-3 gallons of water per inch of its trunk in diameter helps give it the best chance.
After Planting: Your tree needs 1"-2" of water a week to thrive. You can calculate how many gallons that is by multiplying the Square footage of the area surrounding the tree out to the dripline (the area where the canopy extends to) by 0.62 which represents 1" of water over 1 square foot of soil. You can then divide that by the flow rate of your hose or water delivery system. # of minutes of watering = (0.62 X area of coverage (sq. ft.) / flow rate) For example 100 sq. ft. of soil area X .62 = 62 gallons. 62 / a flow rate of 2 + 31 minutes of watering.
Considering an Irrigation System?
Irrigation systems are a great way to conveniently give your plants and lawn the water they need and can be custom designed for your landscape's specific needs. We would love to help you design and install the perfect system for your landscape! Contact us for more information.
Watering & Plant Care Tips
•Over Watering can be just as harmful as underwatering
•During stretches of high temperatures (80 degrees +0) with no rain you will want to water more often.
•If your plants are wilting, yellowing, or browning during the spring or summer it may be a sign they are not getting enough water
•Use a moisture meter to check on the moisture level of your plant’s soil
•The best time to water trees is in the morning or evening when it is not stressed by mid-day temperatures
•Adding a mulch ring to your tree or a mulch bed to your plants will help the plants by insulating the soil, suppressing weeds, and slowing water evaporation from the soil.