Do trees need water in the winter?

[kkirt1]

I was just wandering what the consensus is about watering trees during the winter. Since they are dormant will water help/hurt at all? I have some trees that have been stressed during construction and want to do everything I can to help them recover.

Your responses are appreciated!

 

[treeclimber165]

My aunt and I were just discussing this last week. She has property up in north Florida and said her neighbor always watered his trees in the dry winters. Twice a week, two 5 gallon buckets per tree. They both had smaller (2"-4" caliper) trees planted about the same time and her neighbor's trees grew much faster come springtime. They outgrew her trees by far over the years.
So I went out and kicked on the sprinkler system for a couple hours since we hadn't had any rain in 2 weeks.

 

[Stumper]

Dormancy is sort of a relative term. Activity is still taking place-especially when soil and air temeratures are over 40 degrees fahrenheit. Without leaves transpiring lots of moisture the tree's water needs are greatly reduced but watering during dry periods in winter is a definite plus.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

As long as the ground is not frozen, the roots can take up water.

Evergreens especialy are suseptible to winter dessication.

 

[TREETX]

Yup, water em. I moved trees from 1 gallon containers to 5 gallon containers after they went dormany. Now they have filled the new root area in the 5 gal. That should tell you a lot.

Good luck

 

[treeist]

Yes by all means, an occasional deep watering is necessarry during dry winters. Especially In the southwest and florida I would think it a great benifit in these parts of the country.

 

[Tim Walsh]

Even if there is ice in the spaces in the soil, the soil never really freezes. We just dug through the snow, broke through the ice and pulled actively growing roots and mychorhizae out of the swamp behind Dr. Shigo's house.

 

[tshanefreeman]

This is all relative to where you live.

If I were to winter water, I would first have to dig through about 2 feet of snow, run with the hose, just to end up with is a skating rink to play around on when the winter slump in business arrives. Hey now there's an idea for passing the time.

However, jokes aside, if the ground can still take the water as infiltration, the roots can make use of it. The one thing to keep in mind is that the trees, especially the deciduous ones, will not be transpiring to the same degree during the winter months, therefore, less moisture removed from soil macropores. Be careful not to saturate the soil and cause excess moisture stress to the trees! Here in southern Manitoba, Canada, I strongly suggest to homeowner to routinely water their trees, both evergreen and deciduous, late in the fall, before the frost and snow hits, thus allowing the trees to take in as much as possible. This aids in winter burn prevention and gives a slight boost for spring bud break.

 

[Dennis]

I have about 15 cedar shrubs, 2'-3' tall, 8 feet apart...what I do with them before the snow comes and I put the hoses away...is run the hose on each tree for about 3 hours a day for a week or so...completely saturate them, and then don't water for the winter...I haven't lost one yet...(yet being the key word) Don't know if that is right or not....but it works for me...

 

[tshanefreeman]

I would be leary that total soil saturation could lead to the demise of the tree or in your case shrubs. Perhaps, your climate and weather patterns are more predictable than mine, but I would worry that a warm spell, followed by heavy rain could hit the area following your watering period, therefore causing surface flooding to some extent, and then the roots would essentially sufficate! But if it works well for you....

 

[TREETX]

Forget the water, first figure how they were stressed. Was is from having to be around all those crude blue collar guys during the construction or was it from soil compaction, root damage, etc??

If is is soil compaction, I would address the site problem as your primary thing to deal with.