08/04/2026
Here is a solution for watering your trees in a drought AND under water restrictions, these watering bags will allow you to fill them once and they slowly release water reducing wasted water through runoff etc. Let me know if you would like to give one a try. Please also read these suggestions from Dr. Ball:
Water your trees! Water your trees! As a reminder, fertilizing is not a replacement for watering. Fertilizing trees during drought is not beneficial and can even be harmful. First, the trees are not putting out much growth this year, so their development and health are not limited by nutrient deficiencies. Second, absorbing elements requires the tree to expend energy. A drought stressed one has little energy to spare. Finally, newly planted tree seedlings can be injured by fertilizer salts in dry soil.
Almost all the water absorbed by a tree on a summer day is lost out of the leaves through transpiration. This process moves water from the roots up through the trunk and branches and releases it as water v***r from small holes in the foliage. Less than five percent of the water is used for photosynthesis and other functions. While water is “lost” through transpiration that does not mean it is wasted. The water v***r from the leaves cools the foliage surface, often as much as 10o to 15oF. This allows photosynthesis to occur at warm air temperatures. The transpiration stream is also the mechanism that pulls water through the tree without it having to do any work. Each leaf may be transpiring about one-tenth of an ounce of water per day during the summer. A mature elm tree may have more than 150,000 leaves so the tree may transpire more than 100 gallons of water in a single hot summer day! This means a small community in South Dakota with 2,000 shade trees can release 200,000 gallons a day into the atmosphere if there is sufficient soil moisture. Community trees through their shade and transpiration 1 can create a cooler microclimate. The water v***r cools the air but does not raise the humidity. We often forget about the benefits of all the water recycled back to the atmosphere. A recent study shows the Amazon rainforest transpiration creates a ‘flying river’ which moves more water than the Amazon River!
