By Susan Carter
Here we go again.
Many of you remember the drought of 2017-2018, second worst on
record. Some parts of our state where
there is no irrigation did not even bother planting crops; some areas were on water
restrictions and then came the snow the winter of 2018-2019. That was a godsend. If we would have had two years in a row of
severe drought, we would have been hurting for water resources. With the winter snow and the wet spring,
sources of irrigation and domestic water filled up beyond what was
expected. For a brief period, the entire
state had no, zero, nada drought. Then
the drought started creeping up from the southwest corner again. Now ONLY the north to northeast corner of
Colorado is not in drought. Note the
Water year starts in October.
So what does this mean for your garden and perennial
plants including trees? Drought stress
is not something that just goes away because you watered once or because for a
brief period, the state was not in drought.
Water is one of the key ingredients in photosynthesis and other plant processes
that help the plant create carbohydrates and move water and nutrients
throughout the plant. When plants cannot
adequately produce food, they use up their reserves. Each plant, like people, is different due to
the environment and the type of tree as well as its specific genetic
makeup. So some plants will bounce right
back, where others will stumble along for a few years before they give up
because they have exhausted their resources.
In addition, stressed trees attract insects that can also exhausts the
tree’s resources as they cannot fight off the insects or recover from the
damage done.
Old Pinon Pine with IPS Beetles- Incorrect water stress Photo By Tom Ziola |
Leaf Scorch- drought can be a cause Photo by Susan Carter |
So how do we deal with drought that seems to come more
often? Well we can properly water,
winter water, direct downspouts etc… to keep what we have alive. Then we can start by replacing plants that have
died with more drought resistant plants.
Remember, if you have a tree in a lawn and you remove the lawn and
install rock what have you just done?
The root system of that tree is totally under the lawn. A tree’s root system is at least twice its
width or 2-5 times the height. Ninety percent of the roots are in the top 12-18" of soil. That area
needs water. https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/healthy-roots-and-healthy-trees-2-926/
Watering photo from CSFS |
Trees are like people in that they do NOT like change. To change a watering zone from frequent
watering of turf to watering the tree root zone, you have decrease the
frequency slowly. You have to wean it
off the watering to the appropriate 10, 20 or 30 day of watering interval for
the type of tree and environment. (Watering Mature Trees) https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/657.pdf I could go on with more ways to save water,
but I think that is a blog for another day, the point is think about drought
affects, where you water and why you water and come up with a long term plan.
Snow around Plum trees Photo by Susan Carter |
In addition, we can hope for more snow! If the ground is dry and frozen when the snow
arrives, it does not hydrate the parched soil.
If the soil is dry, but not frozen water so there is moisture in the
soil (but not saturated) so if it thaws again there is water available to the
roots. Plants need to go into the winter
with moisture available to them as they continue to respire and give off
moisture even if they have dropped their leaves. Of course evergreen plants like pine and
spruce trees, evaporate due to having leaves all winter. A dusting of snow is not very helpful
either. It can just evaporate. Snow at least 6” deep can insulate the ground
and provide enough moisture when it melts to help. Then there are the reservoirs that need to fill
so we have irrigation and domestic water.
So let it SNOW!
Susan Carter is the CSU Extension Horticulture and Natural Resource Agent
for the Tri River Area.
Thanks Susan! Good reminder for us. We are transitioning back yard from lawn into pollinator friendly perennial low water plants. There are several mature trees in back yard too though. We probably unintentionally neglected their water needs this year thinking they would no longer miss the previous lawn-watering scheme
ReplyDeleteGlad you can put the information to work.
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