There are no hard and fast rules for how and when to water a new tree. Your tree is unique and the environment in which it is planted is unique. We will, however, provide you with a guideline to follow. If you think you need to make changes to the recommended watering schedule, or your tree's health appears to be declining, please call us and speak to someone on our staff before the tree is completely dead.

At the time of your tree's installation, Dallas Tree Surgeons staff will water in your new tree, soak the root ball, and also soak the hole to take out all air pockets and acclimate the tree to the new soil. The day after planting you will need to water the tree again by placing a hose at the base of the tree and allowing the water to trickle slowly for 45 minutes. Unfortunately, your lawn's sprinkler system is not sufficient to water as deeply as your new tree needs to be watered. Every time you water, use the trickle hose method described for 45 minutes. We want you to completely saturate the tree with water but do it infrequently. This technique makes the tree more resistant to drought. So again completely saturate the root ball, let it dry out for days (the amount of days depends on the temperature) and the saturate it all over again. Do not water a tree that is already moist or hasn't completely dried out as over watering can be even a bigger problem than under watering. 90 percent of trees that fail in the first year are due to too little or not enough water.

Watering Schedule Guidelines

Balled & Bur Lapped Trees
40 degrees and below - Water only before a hard freeze
40-65 degrees - Water every 2 weeks
65-85 degrees - Water once a week
85-100+ degrees - Water every 3 days

Container Grown Trees
40 degrees and below - Water every 4 weeks
40-65 degrees - Water every 11-14 days
65-85 degrees - Water every 6 days
85-100+ degrees - Water every 3 days

The above guidelines should be followed for 12 months assuming normal rainfall (drought conditions may require changes to this watering schedule.) In the second year, you can add approximately 4 -7 days to the time frames listed. Most trees that have been over-watered tend to fade in color slowly, from green to pale green to tan or brown throughout the tree, usually starting in the middle or bottom of the tree. Conversely, trees that have been allowed to become too dry (even once for a short period of time) tend to start fading slightly in color and developing crisp brown edges on the leaves. Should you make a watering mistake, make it to the dry side. A tree can recover from being slightly under-watered easier than it can from being over-watered. Remember however its hard to over water in the Texas summers and this is the time of year in which most trees fail. Tree failure in the first year means that it was a 90% chance of watering issues, either over watering or under watering.