Tree Watering Alert

A City of London media release:

For Immediate Release

The City’s Manager of Urban Forestry has issued a tree watering alert, due to a number of days without rain and no significant amount of rainfall in the forecast.

Drought is the major cause of tree stress, and can lead to permanent damage, especially in young trees. Lengthy periods without rain – typically a week or more – can lead to the most common symptoms of stress appearing, including browning and wilting of leaves. Sometimes the symptoms of drought stress are not visible until the next year, when they appear in the form of insect attacks and disease.

“Trees weakened by lack of water make them less resilient in the long term,” says Ivan Listar, Manager of Urban Forestry for the City of London. “Trees require water to maintain their regular biological functions: to build new buds cells; ensure root growth and build up energy reserves to prepare them for the winter and next spring’s growth.”

All trees, big and small, need at least 2.5 cm of water per week in order to thrive. The cost to water a tree is less than a quarter per week.

When watering trees it is important to soak the soil slowly around the tree continuing out to the outer branches to ensure all the roots get moisture. To make optimal use of water, early morning or evening watering will reduce evaporation loss.

Please remember the City of London Water By-law W-3 is in effect until August 31. If your street address ends with a 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 you may use water outdoors on EVEN numbered calendar days only. If your street address ends with a 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 you may use water outdoors on ODD numbered calendar days only.