The City’s Manager of Urban Forestry would like to remind Londoners the tree watering alert remains in effect, due to the shortfall of rain.
While the small amounts of rain we've received in the past two weeks have helped, the long term forecast does not call for significant rain in the next week. Londoners should continue to water all trees until consecutive weeks of adequate rain occur.
"No rain for days can cause serious stress on both mature and young trees," says Ivan Listar, Manager of Urban Forestry for the City of London. "Watering your trees is vital in this hot weather to ensure their long term health and sustainability."
The best way to water a tree is with a slow trickle from your garden hose for 30-60 minutes. Alternatively, you can drill small holes in a 20 litre (5 gallon) bucket. Fill the bucket and place it near the base of the tree and allow it to drain slowly. When watering large trees using a garden hose, you need to water in a circle area that extends from the trunk base to the outermost branches to reach the full root system.
Did you know?
Unlike grass, trees do not go dormant during times of drought – they continue to try to grow. We need to water our trees before watering our lawns because of the long-term effects on the trees.
