How Often To Water A Newly Planted Tree

If yous planted a new tree this year (or even terminal fall), it will need careful attending to make information technology through the heat of summer and cold of winter. Immature trees expend a lot of energy making leaves and their root systems are still small-scale. Equally a result, the stress of hot summer atmospheric condition or lack of wintertime water on newly-planted trees can be mortiferous without regular watering to help them get established. Learn how much water is needed, how often to water, and which factors affect a tree's water needs.

Related information: How to Properly Found a Tree >>

Water = Life for a Newly-Planted Tree

The commencement few years of a tree'due south life are when it develops its anchoring and feeding root systems beneath ground, as well as the trunk and co-operative construction above ground. The more vigorous a young tree, the faster information technology tin put out new leaves for photosynthesis (to generate internal energy stores) and develop its root organisation.

This early growth requires significant amounts of water, which isn't always easy for a tree to "observe" during the hot, dry summer months.

During a summer heatwave, a young tree that lacks sufficient h2o can become stunted and susceptible to pests and diseases at all-time, and die within days at worst.

Acquire how to accept care of your trees during summer here>>

Commencement Watering Your Tree Before You Found Information technology

Proper watering starts when you lot plant the tree, commencement with the tree's rootball. Be sure to thoroughly h2o the entire rootball when yous remove it from its nursery container or unwrap the burlap from effectually information technology. Often, the soil inside the rootball is dry out (and sometimes compacted) and doesn't easily absorb moisture from the surrounding soil unless information technology'due south wetted earlier planting.

The goal with this first watering is to ease your new tree into its new dwelling with as little stress equally possible, ensuring a smooth institution menstruation.

Water Immediately After Planting

Ray Boychew planting a tree for Rayzor's Edge Tree Service One adept rule of thumb is to immediately gargle a newly-planted tree with 2 to 3 gallons of water per inch of its body diameter. So a tree whose trunk is two inches in diameter when y'all institute it should be given 4 to 6 gallons of h2o right abroad.

A newly-planted tree's roots only extend as far as the rootball. Whatsoever water in the soil that'south beyond the reach of the tree's rootball can't be captivated. And since that rootball isn't very large when the tree is first planted, it's critical to provide enough h2o around the rootball. Without that nearby water, a young tree in a summer heatwave especially vulnerable.

Sufficient watering is also important if the soil you lot've planted your young tree in is already on the dry side. The dry soil volition automatically pull water from the wetter rootball to residuum the h2o distribution where the two materials (rootball and native soil) encounter, leaving the tree without enough moisture.

If your young tree is planted among other copse or shrubs, watering is important considering the roots of these other, established plants volition compete for h2o with your new tree.

And nearly chiefly, you'll want to h2o low and irksome. This slow infiltration rate gives the young tree's roots a longer period to have up water and allows water to move deep into the soil, which is where you want your tree to develop its roots. Shallow watering encourages shallow root development, leaving the tree unstable and susceptible to dry weather.

Rule of Thumb for Watering a Young Tree Afterward Planting

How much water a immature tree needs volition depend on several factors. There's no unmarried answer to this question but in that location's a helpful rule of thumb that serves every bit a practiced starting bespeak –

Give your young tree 1 ½" to ii" of h2o a week .

But how practise yous measure that?

This is where calculating how much to water your young tree gets more complicated.

Here comes the math!

To figure out how to get 2" of water to your new tree each calendar week, yous need to know ii things:

the flow charge per unit (in gallons per minute or GPM) at your hose bibb or irrigation emitter, and
the size (in square feet) of the expanse y'all're going to irrigate (this should exist the area under the tree reaching all the way out to the edge of the canopy).

And so plug those numbers into this formula –

# of minutes of watering = (0.62 x expanse of coverage (sf)) / menses rate (GPM)

The first number, 0.62, is the irrigation constant. It represents 1" of h2o over 1 square foot of soil.
To turn that amount into gallons, multiply the irrigation abiding by the size of the area that you're irrigating (for instance, 100 sf of planting area x .62 = 62 gallons)
Then separate that number by the menstruum rate (GPM) of your hose bibb to become the length of fourth dimension yous'll demand to run water (example: 62/2 GPM = 31 minutes of watering).

If your head's already exploding, don't worry! An experienced irrigation designer will exercise the calculations for y'all as function of installing a new arrangement, or as an improver to your existing irrigation organisation's valves.

If yous desire to DIY your tree watering with a garden hose or by placing a soaker hose around the tree, you tin hands get a flow meter for your hose bibb to calculate its menstruum rate. Of import: Set the flow rate you want for your tree (a slow trickle) before measuring information technology – do non measure out at its maximum catamenia.

Whatever method you use to water your newly-planted tree, remember that information technology volition need irrigation until autumn'due south absurd weather and rainfall arrive with the shorter hours of sunlight. If dry atmospheric condition persists through fall, keep to water.

IN ADDITION TO WATERING …

Don't forget to mulch! Mulching your newly-planted tree is one of the best things you tin can do for information technology.

A iii" layer of organic mulch (organic means made of organic matter like wood chips or footing-upwards bawl) helps your tree through hot summer weather in several ways:

Insulating the soil and regulating its temperature
Slowing water evaporation from the soil
Suppressing the weeds that would otherwise steal water for their ain growth
Enriching the soil's water-belongings capacity as information technology breaks downwardly

And, every bit you know, ever keep mulch away from your tree'southward trunk.

wood mulch spread around newly-planted trees

Other Factors Affecting a Young Tree's Water Needs

Beyond the rules of thumb listed in a higher place, the water needs of your young tree are affected by many factors, including:

Tree Species and Size

It'due south a good idea to know the general water needs of the trees you choose earlier planting them.

Different species of trees have different transpiration rates, meaning they demand different amounts of h2o and take up h2o by their roots at different rates. Copse that accept evolved to withstand windy, coastal weather condition are very unlike from trees that evolved in humid, rainforest, or subtropical conditions.
Rootball size at planting determines water use. If you are planting more than mature trees with larger rootballs, remember that in addition to their larger rootballs they will nearly probable have larger crowns with more than branches and leaves to support. The stress of transplanting can crusade trees to drop some or all of their leaves, so be sure to provide enough h2o to minimize transplanting stress.

Location

Is the tree in full sun or in a windy location? Is it in a depression spot or where there'due south shade? Are you lot planting your new tree on a slope? The specifics of a tree's surround are important to its water uptake needs.

A low spot in part shade will nearly likely lose water more slowly than a spot that's in full sun, because of slower evaporation.
The elevation of a slope will lose water well-nigh quickly because of gravity pulling the h2o down the slope and through the soil.
A windy spot will increase the transpiration charge per unit of a tree, as the water that's released by a tree's stomata (openings on the underside of leaves that release water) will evaporate more than rapidly when wind blows it away. This means the tree needs more than water, faster, to be transferred from its root system to its crown to keep its transpiration counterbalanced.

Competition

Are there many other copse and shrubs around your new tree? How about lawn or bloom beds?

Contest by your plants for water is real! Yous'll want to supply enough water to keep everyone'due south roots healthy.

Temperature

Outdoor temperatures and hours of sunlight are straight related to how much water a tree of whatsoever size needs.

The hotter it is, the more h2o a tree'southward roots will take up.
The longer the hours of sunlight, the more time that tree volition spend taking up water each day.

Soil Texture

The kind of soil your tree is planted in is too important. Soil has a natural texture, defined past the percentages of its components, and that texture determines how fast water volition run through it.

Sandy soil drains water very fast, sometimes as well fast for tree roots to be able to take upwards all the moisture they demand.
Dirt soil tin be irksome to blot water and can concord h2o for long periods of time. Clay soil tin become waterlogged, essentially "drowning" your tree.
Loam soil has the best water-holding capacity for nearly landscape plants and is platonic for nigh trees.
Urban fill soil may be made up of any or everything, and then its water-belongings capacity isn't known without a soil assay.

If you lot're curious about your soil, the Academy of Connecticut's soil testing lab offers soil testing that will tell you what your soil is fabricated of and how it's classified by texture. Understanding your soil type will requite you a more precise idea of how much and how ofttimes y'all'll need to water your newly-planted tree.

Soil Depth

To add to the complexity of h2o, soil, and copse, your soil'due south depth is also important to how much h2o you'll need for your young tree. Shallow soil just can't hold the volume of h2o that deep soil tin can so your immature tree'southward roots volition need more frequent watering.

Testing your soil will besides tell you near its nutrient levels and if, or how much, you'll demand to improve your soil to ensure salubrious tree growth. Soils in our area of Connecticut (and New England in general) tin can exist shallow and food-poor.

In Summary

Equally you lot can come across, there isn't ane simple answer to the question "How much water should I give my newly-planted tree?". When you lot water and how much you provide will vary depending on a wide multifariousness of factors.

However, the full general tree watering guidelines are:

Water the rootball earlier planting
Give ii to 3 gallons of water per inch of trunk diameter correct afterward planting
Provide 1 ½ to 2 inches of water each week throughout the summertime and fall until temperatures cool

If you'd like assist figuring out the all-time way to water your new tree, give us a call!

Our arborists tin can arrange a soil test for your property, explicate how and why you might demand to amend your soil, propose ways to set up or modify your irrigation schedule or method to all-time suit your tree and its location, and ensure your newly-planted tree receives all that information technology needs for long-term health.