As a crushing heat wave hammers the Bay Area, residents are advised to not only drink water themselves, but give their trees a drink as well.
Drought-stressed trees in the Bay Area are suffering even more, said arborist Darya Barar of East Bay-based HortScience Bartlett Consulting.
“Any time there is high heat, trees are water-stressed,” said Barar, whose firm provides tree management services to businesses and municipalities. Trees were already suffering from the drought crisis facing the state, and the recent heat wave added insult to injury, she said.
Trees’ immune systems are more susceptible to pests and disease with less water. Some species, like the coast redwood, have seen an “insanely steep” decline over the last 10 years due to the drought, the arborist said.
The solution: Grab a hose and get to work.
“People often don’t think trees, especially mature trees, need to be irrigated, but that is not the case,” Barar said. She added that while the coast live oak and valley oak don’t need summer watering, they will benefit from watering October through May.
Barar added that the hose should be left in place for a couple of hours, allowing the water to penetrate the soil. According to Barar, “Eighty percent of sprinkler water runs off. It comes out so quickly, the soil doesn’t have time to absorb the water.”
Barar advises watering twice a week during high heat and periods of no rain, though this may vary depending on the type of soil and other variables. She suggested visiting the Arbor Day Foundation website, https://www.arborday.org/, or TreesAreGood.com for more information on watering.
As a general rule, “Anytime you notice the soil is drying out, you want to start irrigating again,” Barar said.
Water trees?
Did Darya Barar get permission from the water department to post this?
water shortage…. so get out there and waste it for hours until there is no more left for us, just the trees.
You can’t make this stuff up!
If there’s water to grow pot, there’s water for my lawn and trees!!!
We are not going to run out of water.
That is what I was thinking, if we have such a shortage why tell people to water their trees. Makes no sense. I guess people will only learn
when they cannot take a shower or flush their toilet.
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Concur.
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Our plum, apple, crape myrtle, and sycamore trees were starting to show signs of stress. They each got a slow deep watering over the past few nights.
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For those of you above that oppose watering trees like Aunt Barbara, these trees shade our house and thus keep it cooler than a house fully exposed to the sun. Therefore, we use less energy for cooling.
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Got it?
Wow… people have to be told how to water..
Article should be called “watering for dummies”
I would love to, but I don’t think it’s doable. My water company would not be happy. It would charge me triple the rate, if not turn my water off in punishment because we’re in such a drought according to them. And would have passed their buyer turn me into the authorities for watering? I feel the same restriction on electricity. Boy this California is become a crazy place from what it used to be. There’s no more freedom here for the good people.
Yes yes yes Water the Trees, PLEASE!
They have literally been screaming for water for the last couple years.
If anyone recalls, years ago the City of Concord and or County would have water trucks dumping water on the trees, shrubs and plants along the center medians and edges of streets, hiways etc etc. Haven’t seen this done in YEARS, why? Put those Old water trucks back in to use and best of all they can get FREE RECYCLED WATER from the local sanitation district.
Please, this week I’ve seen so many trees that are probably dying but defiantly and obviously in distress and stressed and screaming for help just dropping limbs like crazy. Hopefully none of these limbs will fall on someones car or head and kill them.
Free Recycled Water, ALL CITIES do your part and put those old water trucks back in service and if you need to hire more staff.
Don’t forget, plants and trees help clean the air too.
I used a 30″ deep watering probe to create a series of holes around my lemon and orange trees. They’re about 2 inches in diameter. I then ran 1/4″ drip line with a 1 gallon per hour emitter at each hole. I hooked up a pressure reducer and when I need to water, I attach the reducer to my garden hose to drip irrigate at each hole. I need only crank the spigot a slight turn to see a steady drip. I sometimes start the watering by using the deep probe to fill each hole and then turn on the drip. This keeps the holes filled with water and allows a better soil saturation. Ten hours of drip puts 10 gallons in each hole. I have 8 holes, so I’m using only 80 gallons every week. Flood irrigation would use far more and not water as deeply. Oranges are huge this year!
So I cannot water my lawn or garden, but I can water trees. Got it!
This is on the same lines as, we must all drive electric cars, but you cannot charge them because our grid cannot handle the current demands.
i planted 3 different trees this week,they all died,even with a trickle on them
The pot plants are still thriving and about ready to be harvested..is a 7′ pot plant considered a tree?
Who is running the show these days? The same people that are feeding us the Global Warming Climate change malarkey.
Just remember, If we give the govt a lot of money, they will fix all this stuff.
Sick and tired of conserving water so we have a future of drinking water and water with which to shower… just so my neighbors can water lawns and wash their cars every weekend because they’ve told me that they “deserve” to use as much of it as they want.
I love the bay area, but getting to know my neighbors has been insufferable.
Those types will always be around sadly 😑
Watering trees while water is running low sounds like a stupid idea…
Since Climate Change doesn’t exist – there is literally nothing we can do to help the climate situation
We are going to have to deal with reality and change our lifestyles.
Not change our life styles, change politicians. Build dams and desal plants. Look at the drought map of California San Diego is not in severe drought because they have a large desal plant. Only place in the state. Except for a few small ones.
This is supposed to be the richest state in the union and we have to ration water. Sorry but I am not doing it. My trees are watered.. The eco freaks are responsible for this mess let them work it out The water shortage has been going on for eons. Time to put the blame where it belongs.
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So many myopic, uninformed, and ignorant comments on this article.
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Yes that’s what the majority of CA libs are..
There is a very good reason why the Democratic national symbol is a jackass.
Water your beautiful yards people….. pride of ownership. we are not going to run out of water.