Yesterday, I was lamenting about the heat and how even in the heat we can still see plant diseases occurring.  Well, I got an email from Dr. Todd Watson – arborist extraordinaire and the current president of the Texas chapter International Society of Arboriculture (ISAT). The email began with ” TEXAS IN EPIC DROUGHT – WATER TREES NOW!”.  In case you are not from Texas, it has been hot and DRY in most parts of Texas. It is so dry that it is affecting establish trees.

Back  in 2005 and 2006 when we were experiencing a pretty bad drought, I told folks to be on the look out for dead or dying trees 3-5 years after. Last couple of years, we have seen quite a bit of die off in many different parts of Texas. Most memorable for me was a swath of  80 acres that had over 90% of the cedar elm trees dying off.  Now before any reprieve, we are into a drought situation AGAIN!  Hence the email from Dr. Watson which contained a nice US Drought monitor map (see image) and a link to the Texas ISAT site with tips on how to water trees under current conditions.

I have gotten several question in the past month about the drought, bad looking lawns and big water bills. My own yard is struggling to stay alive and I do have a large post oak.  Well, the way I look at it is that I can replace my lawn and landscape pretty easily compared to an establish, over 35 year old (at least) tree.  I wish you well as we try to survive this heat and drought together.  I am off to water my tree.

Almost forgot to attach the link to the watering tips:

http://isatexas.com/Consumers/Customer_Tree_Care_Info.htm