here's the deal.... to do well, your trees need to send out new little 'feeder roots'... they're very small, almost hairy.... if the soil is dry, they wither up.... if the soil is moist, they can push thru more easily and take up what the tree needs at the same time.... so... your job is to keep the soil MOIST so those little roots can do their thing.... best way to know if it needs water or not is to open a hole with a hand trowel near where the root ball is sitting in the hole.... put your fingers in the hole you''ve made and test the soil for moisture!!!... if it's moist to your touch, you can try again tomorrow... if it's dry, then water today!!.... if it's soggy, it rained last night!!!.... *smile*..... use a bucket about the same size as the pot the tree came in... fill it with water and slowly pour that water around the area of the root ball and out a little , too, to encourage the roots to go hunting for more .....(be sure to close the trowel -hole back up, too!)..... if you get good at this, in a few weeks you'll be able to use another bucket, put smallish holes around the side/bottom so that water just sorta seeps out.....fill the bucket and let it sit beside the tree until empty...... as long as your soil is NOT frozen soil, you should continue to water your trees..... stop only after the soil is so cold that water doesn't sink down.... after that, it's up to the rains and snows until the temperatures warm up... but when they do, be sure to go check the tree's ...... see, underground, there's still root growing going on, even when the tree on top looks totally dormant!.... and if it warms up enuff to melt snow, those roots are still busy!....
newly planted trees need attention for the first year... lots of attention for the first six or eight weeks, at least... then weekly after that to check on their progress.... we transplant them, so we need to care for them after we do!!!...
the only thing to be careful of is that the trees do not sit IN water.... the soil must drain off water, too... drowning can happen to trees, too.....
|