Perhaps, there’s no greater joy in the entire world than watching the trees you planted grow right in front of your eyes. The entire process of a sapling growing into a mighty tree is a very satisfying one. However, one of the things that you don’t want to happen is to watch your mature tree die out slowly because of neglect or insufficient knowledge. Not many people realize the importance of watering an adult tree because they tend to assume that natural rainfall must be enough. They forget to take into account the various factors it takes to grow a tree other than just the root system, which is of no use if there’s not enough water to absorb. This usually leads to the tree dying out or stunting in growth, which you don’t want happening.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the steps that you need to follow in order to water mature trees. There’s a proper method for watering mature trees and knowing about it is extremely important in keeping them healthy and alive. So without further ado, let’s get to it and find out how you should be watering your trees to make them even bigger, denser, and greener than ever.
1. Know Your Tree
While you don’t have to become an expert on all trees it will help your tree’s chances of survival if you do a little reading up about it. These days there are thousands of videos and blog posts about each tree and how to maintain them that won’t take too much time up.
2. Play a Supportive Role
Most people who take care of trees make one of two major mistakes. Either they pay too much attention or they don’t pay nearly enough attention to their trees. In both cases, your tree will be at a disadvantage and this is why you have to consciously try and act in a supportive capacity. If you overwater your tree, you can create new issues like rot and decay but if you underwater your tree, there will be other issues that you’ll have to deal with. Underwatering will also force the tree’s root system to develop near the surface which is harmful to them in the warmer seasons. So try and maintain a healthy balance between caring too much and caring too little. The day you strike this perfect balance will be the day your tree starts to thrive.
3. Understand the Tree
Looking up information about your tree is all well and good, but different trees have different requirements when it comes to water levels, sunlight, soil type, and more. You will have to do a little bit of trial and error to get to learn your exact tress likes and dislikes, but watching for small changes, especially in the soil will help you know if something is affecting it.
4. Root Spread
The root spread of every tree of the same species is usually similar, what this means is that there are a couple of general guidelines when it comes to different tree species and how to water them. The root spread is also important because the different varieties of trees can have vastly different root spreads and this means that you should study each tree species closely. The roots travel to different depths depending on the conditions encountered by them under the soil. If you know how far deep the roots of your tree have travelled, you’ll be able to determine how much watering is necessary. Even Zachary Smith Arboriculture explains that the most important thing to note about a tree while watering is the root spread. You must do some deep watering at least once a month, or maybe more if the tree needs it. We want to ensure that the water reaches the roots that lie deeper or else, you’ll end up creating a shallow root network.
5. Don’t Be Hasty
Not everything in life can be expedited by just pouring in endless resources and doing hard work. Some things, like trees, are supposed to take their time and this is the beauty of the experience of growing them. Deep watering, for example, has to be done slowly and steadily if you want to obtain the maximum benefits. There’s no point in opening up the tap completely and wasting your water as it takes time for the solid to actually be able to absorb water. You’ll have to wait so that the water permeates the soil and there’s no other way around this. Trees teach us important life lessons and one of these lessons is to be patient and consistent. Make sure that you take good care of your tree every day rather than doing it once a month.
6. Get Your Timing Right
Without consistency, your tree won’t be able to do well as it’s a living organism as well. So instead of flooding it with water once in a while, make sure to pay at least some attention to it every day. Learn when to water it, when not to water it and do try and find out what are the best months for growing it in the first place.
7. Do Pot Maintenace
While most people will be growing their trees in the ground some people will prefer to grow them in pots and this means something else you need to maintain. Are there any cracks in it, is the pot still big enough for your tree and is that said pot in the right place? These are all things worthy of consideration.
8. Holidays
Do you plan to go away on holiday? If you do you might want someone to maintain the tree while you are gone. Regular water, especially in the early years is very important, so it wouldn’t hurt to have someone pop in and give the tree a little bit of water and attention every few days.
9. Pay Attention to It
When they say talking to trees helps them grow they really do mean it. A 5-year study by the Royal Horticultural Society proved that trees that receive daily chatter from people grow up much quicker and much stronger. But it also proved they do prefer the sound of a female voice, so us men might want to talk a little softer.
10. Always Aim For Year 4
After 4 years almost all types of trees and shrubs have reached their full potential and have strong enough roots to survive most types of weather. If you can make it to this point you can consider yourself a good tree grower and it’s a milestone that rewards you for all the time and effort you have shown your tree.
These are some of the most important steps that you need to take if you want to water a mature tree. The problem with mature trees is that they don’t exactly work the same way as smaller plants do, and this leads to people making some serious errors. Most of us haven’t really taken care of fully grown mature trees and it’s normal to make newbie mistakes. However, the only way around this issue is to observe more and keep on learning continuously. If you know the proper way to water an adult tree, you’ll realize that it takes much less work than a small plant does. However, to reach that stage, you’ll have to stick with it despite all the failures and mistakes you make. There are many other steps you can take to ensure that you’re watering your tree right, but these steps that we discussed here are more than adequate for someone new to taking care of trees. So just follow these steps regularly and you can start adding further steps to it later.
