Q.
We planted an African Sumac tree three years ago that is showing a lot of new green
leaves now. Could you please let me know how much water it needs? It was deep
fertilized at the beginning of spring.
A. Are you sure
you aren’t seeing flowers? These trees flower in late Fall and into the winter
months in the Northern hemisphere.
.JPG) |
| African sumac flowers |
You
realize that trees require more water as they get older and larger. So at three
years of age they require more water than when first planted. I would normally
add another emitter at this age to give it the extra water it needs.
In
another three or four years it will require again more water than it requires
now as it gets even larger. You would add another emitter again at this time to
deliver more water. You should avoid increasing the minutes to give it more
water.
 |
| Two drip emitters will not be enough for a tree this size |
With
that in mind, I would estimate that after three years in the ground your tree
should receive about 10 to 15 gallons each time you water if planted from a 15
gallon container. I can't give you that estimate in minutes because I don't
know how much water the plant is getting in one of its minutes.
You
should determine how much water is being delivered to the tree. I'm not sure if
you're using drip or not but many emitters state the number of gallons per hour
that it is delivering or they are color-coded.
Add
all these gallons together and divide by the fraction of the hour you are
watering; 15 minutes you would divide by 4, 30 minutes divide by two. Do not
water landscape trees and shrubs daily. This time of year once a week should be
adequate.
You
can fertilize the tree yourself. Place some fertilizer underneath each emitter
or use fertilizer stakes such as Jobes next to each emitter.
.JPG) |
| Jobes tree spikes |
If
you are watering in a basin around the tree, sprinkle fertilizer in the basin
and water it in and save yourself some money. Don't put fertilize closer than a
foot from the trunk.
I PLANTED 2 AFRICAN SUMACS IN 36 INCH BOXES 2 LAST WEEK HOW MUCH WATER SHOULD I GIVE THEM AND HOW OFTEN SHOULD I WATER THEM
ReplyDeleteYou emailed me with the same question at xtremehorticulture@gmail.com. I appreciate that.
DeleteThe way I figure it is half the volume to the full volume of whatever container (in your case a boxed tree) you planted. You want the water to be applied to the area inside the box and then move or spread into the surrounding soil. This will help the roots to move into the surrounding soil and it will get established. So the first two waterings really flood the area…make it sopping wet twice, a day apart. Then hold off. The amount of water each time will be about 20 gallons….4 or 5 each 5 gph emitters watering for one hour. If only for 30 minutes then you will need to deliver that water twice as fast. I like to start with one hour for the run time. At this time of year (nearly October) twice a week watering (after flooding) should be fine. Once a week watering about Dec 1. No more often than that through the winter.