The question that I seem to get most often right now is why are my trees dying? Most of the time, the answer is the drought. Even though we have had some moisture recently, we are still in a severe drought. Driving around the county, you will even see old, big Red Cedars dying in the tree rows. That is because we have had two summers that were extremely hot and dry which baked the ground, and a very mild, dry winter in between. All of this moisture loss stressed the trees out, especially in windbreaks or where trees were planted close together. Those trees have to compete even more than normal for water and resources, so the drought takes more of a toll on them than single trees. The best way help your trees out in a windbreak situation is to water 8-12” deep out to the drip line of the trees every other week if possible. This will hopefully give your tree row a fighting chance to make it through until we get into a wetter pattern.
A factor with trees in a city setting is your lawn. Grass competes against trees for the water and nutrients in the soil, and since its root system is shallower, it will get the water more often in a turf setting. The best practice you can do with your trees in your yard is to have a mulch ring out to the drip line of the tree and then water that area slowly so that it is moist 8-12” deep all the way around the tree. For established trees, this only needs to be done every two weeks, and for new trees, once a week. The key is to water infrequently, but deeply to allow the tree to also get the air in the soil it needs as well.
Trees are a vital resource in our community. Right now, we need to give them a little more care to help them through the dry weather. If we all give them a little more attention now, they will be there to provide us shade, windbreaks, and general enjoyment for many more years to come. For more information, please contact us at 1800 12th St, Great Bend, or by calling us at 620-793-1910.
Alicia Boor is the Agriculture and Natural Resources agent for Barton County K-State Research and Extension. You can contact her by e-mail at aboor@ksu.edu or calling 620-793-1910