well ... just skimmed it fast ...

I REALLY LIKED THE 5 GAL PAIL IDEA ... lol .. with a quarter inch hole ...

and i also like this: Do not fertilize a tree that
is under drought stress.

i may have missed it .... i dont think discussed a given persons soil type .... my sand would be much different than most of your humus based soils.. let alone clay ... that still has to be taken into consideration ... and a perk test would sure tell each of us.. how water moves in the soil ...

i will read it more closely later ... and see if anything else pops out ...

i have no clue how i ended up in italics ... which will probably disappear when i hit send ...

ken

This doesn't help those who have already planted the huge transplants from nurseries in their yards, but, planting oaks from seed (acorn) is great if you get droughts regularly and if you want lots of oaks in your yard it is especially good. I only have 5 acorn grown oaks, and many planted as small seedlings. I am so glad that I don't have to worry about those 5 and if you plant small trees, they establish faster and you don't need to water them very much in a drought. I am talking drought in my area zone 6 Pa. Just imagine in the real bad drought zones out west, that taproot will help if you can direct sow the acorns where the tree is wanted, and putting down mulch. Even if you don't want an oak, and can't find seeds, planting a small tree will make it easier to water well, and it will be settled in by the time it gets large. If I were in a drier/hotter area, try to get a smaller tree, or seeds for the tree you want. I realize if you have the Home associations or whatever they are called where they make you follow their rules and charge you for making you follow their rules, you likely have to plant a larger specimen of the trees of their choice. But, people out there who can choose their own trees and whatever size they want, you can sow Hickory, Pecan, oak, seeds, etc. Whatever trees from seed and they usually have a taproot that they can use in their youth to get all the water they need when it doesn't rain in a while. I know this doesn't fit everybody's situation, but, it is worth checking into if you are someone that can make their own decisions on tree size and type. You would be surprised how acorn or (whatever) seed grown trees can reach a good size. When you transplant a tree, the first year you usually don't get any growth, ( in my experience anyway) seed grown, it will grow with no year of holding back growth, because it doesn't need to adjust and get settled in much since the seed sends it's taproot (if the tree species or type does that)is the first thing that happens. You will have a seedling that has it's own little insurance policy in a drought situation. Some folks will say that the tree doesn't have to have a taproot and that is right, but, if you are in a drought prone area, starting from seed is a great idea in my opinion. If you have to plant large specimens like in an HOA, they surely are going to not stop you from using TONS of water for those large transplants. Sorry for being so long winded or long posting, but, it is far less work to get trees that don't have to depend on people to do fine in a drought. If you wonder if you can grow a tree(s) you want from seed, check out Schumackers seeds, or ask people on here their source, people on Garden web often trade seeds for free. Lots of people on here will help you find what you want and all of them I have gotten seeds from don't want any money, surely if you are not asking for a buttload of seeds most people I have contacted have given tree seeds, or small transplants free. It's great to have something they want also. WEll, I hope things work out for you. Bye

The first sentence of that site says it all. Semi-arid, few natural trees, IRRIGATION NECESSARY. So lets fight nature and do something that will require great expense and use a finite, precious resource, generally unavailable locally, for the next, oh 500 years or so. Because that's what scientists say is likely, a mega drought in the SW. It has happened in the past, probably several times, and will happen again, we may be seeing the beginnings of it now. Sometimes I wonder if 'Homo' is using the 'sapiens' of his namesake.

Living in a "green state", what would I do for my well established trees, and I have a small forest, in the event of a severe drought? The same as I would do in any other natural event such as a forest fire, hurricane, flood, ice storm, or lava flow: absolutely nothing. Let nature take its course, survival of the fittest. Unless Planet Earth gets sanitized by a neutron star or some such event, trees will survive. Maybe not MY trees, but some trees. Or seeds. Somewhere.

Young, newly planted trees are another matter, sometimes. If I am able, and depending on the species, they'll get watered for the first year, second at most, and only enough to keep them alive until the rain returns. In 2007, I lost a lot of newly planted stuff to the Easter freeze, and later pretty much everything else to the scorching heat and drought. Watering was futile, so I didn't even try. It was REAL hard for me to watch. Some of the large trees in the area still bear the scars of that double whammy. That year marked a turning point for me, I stopped actively planting my place.

My roughly ten thousand trees we've planted up at the farm get no supplemental water. Almost all survive. Maybe I'm just a lucky guy, but other areas of my life suggest it's not that!

You have to have a little luck in reforesting relatively large areas. And as much success as it seems we've had up there, a severe drought could still wreak havoc. And like Kentrees.....our basic response would be to go fishing...or something like that. You can't do battle with big forces of nature and win, but you can beat your head against a wall trying. At least it will feel good when you stop!

I love the link! Thanks for posting it. We moved to a house on 1.5
acres that had been neglected for years. It was a foreclosure.
Clueless about watering on a hillside, we have seen a few trees bite the
dust. R.I.P. There is great information in the article and not only
did I bookmark it, and forward it to hubby, I'm telling all my neighbors
about it.Thanks!

For those of us who live in arid climates, tree's make a big difference and are worth the expense of watering. Shade is a precious thing here and helps with air conditioning costs, etc. I have lived in the mountains of northern arizona for 15 years now and some of my first few tree's planted are making a big difference now. I have been experimenting with tree's that are hardy and drought tolerant (some of the weed tree's you east coast guys detest). Now that some of the hardy tree's are well established and getting some size, I can experiment with seedlings of more exotic tree's for fun, since the framwork is in place. Everyone needs a hobby, growing tree's is better then most.

I cannot access the link. I have had this trouble repeatedly on the Garden Web. Some links work, others don't. Since other people CAN see the links, can anyone suggest why I can't?

Not sure why you cant. Are you on a phone? That could be a prob. I use Firefox. The article comes from colostate.edu Possibly if you google "Caring for Trees During Drought", you can find it.

I'm on a P.C. running Firefox.

When was the last time you did a disc cleanup? Maybe you have something you don't know about blocking links.

Other links work just fine.

Earlier you posted

>Some links work, others don't<

so now it is unclear what your specific situation is.