How often do I need to water my newly planted trees?

Every spring is different but this year has been especially dry and warm which means your trees are in need of a water! It is important to apply the water slowly to give time for your soil to grip it and then let the roots access it. Imagine pouring a litre of water via a jug onto a hanging basket. Most of the water falls out the bottom and onto the ground below making it useless for the plants in the basket. It this water was applied as a litre of cube of ice, no water would fall through the basket as it would take four hours to melt and give time for the compost to grip it. Slow release water is the key to watering so attach a sprinkler rose on the end of your hose or watering can to slow the delivery up.

Trees have evolved to accept rainfall as a delivery system for water so the best way to copy this is a garden sprinkler. Simply set it up delivering its droplets back and forth over your newly planted tree and walk away for half an hour. Coarse mulch also slows up the delivery of the water through to the soil and this also prevents future evaporation and soil capping.

Another good way to achieve a slow water delivery system as well as doubling up as a mulch mat is to use our Tree Watering Bags. Water is dispensed over an hour or two and trees really thrive with this kind of treatment.

If a tree is less than 24 months planted, I would start watering it in April and aim to deliver 6 litres of slowly applied water one a week until full canopy is achieved in late May / June. After this I would step this up to twice weekly until the end of September when you can hang up your irrigation kit for the autumn and winter. Don’t be fooled by summer rainfall as this can bounce off the full and leafy canopy and drop beyond the root zone to provide a useful top up but not enough direct water.

All this watering advice is assuming that the ground is free draining as waterlogging your trees deprives the roots of oxygen and could drown them.

As always, if in doubt, please contact us either by phone, e mail or live chat. We are always on hand to offer more advice!

Posted by Mike Glover