Watering trees and plants is the most important thing you can do once they have been planted in your yard. One of the biggest challenges, and one of the most common questions we receive, is understanding proper watering for the material in our landscape. Since soils vary in all areas it is important to note proper watering depths for everything in your landscape.
Each variety of tree and plant differ from one another in terms of the quantity of water that they require in order to grow and thrive.
Small annual plants that are changed out with each passing season require a sufficient amount of water to thrive. We recommend that you water the annuals in your yard or garden to at least 1’ foot of depth each time you water.
Larger perennial shrubs need deeper water as well. The key to optimal water depth is to ensure that water reaches the bottom of the root ball. This helps establish strong, deep root systems and is a driving factor to how hardy your plants are and/or will become. Shrubbery should be watered each time to a depth of 2’ to ensure that you have saturated the entire root zone.
Trees and palms are the largest landscape items we plant and require the most amount of water. It is recommend, based on the size of your tree or palm, that you water to a depth of at least 2-3’ each time you give your trees and palms a drink. Keeping the area moist allows the trees to absorb the water during hot and dry periods. This ensures that the trees and palms in your yard continue to grow and strengthen.
(see chart below)
So how do you know if you have watered deep enough? The easiest and most efficient way to check proper water depth is to use a smooth metal rod and push it into the ground until it stops (a piece of rebar works well for this). You may have to do a few test holes to be sure you are not hitting large rocks. The place where it stops will give you an accurate read on how deep you have watered. If you have not hit the required watering depth in the watering time you have allowed we recommend increasing the amount of time in order to reach optimal watering depth.
Now that you have figured out how long you have to water in order to reach the required depth needed for your trees and plants you can easily set your irrigation system.
The next step is to tackle the frequency of watering the trees and plants in your yard receive. Follow along for our next article when we show you an easy way to calculate the water needs for your trees and plants.
As always, you can call or visit any of our locations and speak with a certified nursery professional regarding proper watering depths.