Drought is tough on trees but there are water wise ways to keep them alive

There are an estimated 12 million dead trees in California’s forests.

In our current drought, we’re told time and time again we need to cut back on water.

Inevitably when you do that, trees suffer.

But even though our drought is relentless, there are ways to be water wise and save your trees.

Gregg Gritters, the CEO of Vintage Landscape, has been landscaping in the valley for more than 13 years.

He said this drought has been tough on our trees.

“Homeowners need to prioritize their trees, they need to prioritize their landscape,” Gritters said.

While many native plants like Palm and Smoke trees are able to withstand the drought, non-native trees, like Pear trees, unfortunately are not.

You can tell a tree is in stress when its leaves begin to fall when they aren’t supposed to.

“On citrus trees, which are really popular out here, the leaves will start to curl and that’s how you know it’s stressed,” Gritters said.

The most obvious choice when landscaping is native species.

“Trees that are adapted to this climate are gonna be able to deal with this drought better than things that come from other climates where they’re used to getting more water,” said Kirk Anderson the curator of gardens at The Living Desert.

Thanks to irrigation systems some aren’t as affected by our four year drought.

Experts at The Living Desert said their irrigation system is why their trees remain mostly green.

“Everything is on irrigation here and so we may end up watering more if we don’t get any supplemental rain,” Anderson said.

Gritters said a targeted irrigation system is essential in our drought so water goes where it needs to go and is not wasted.

“Deep root irrigation is generally the best because you can water longer. But a slow, long watering is better than hitting it with a lot of water over a short period of time because most of that water will just run off,” Gritters said.

You want to water in the tree’s drip zone directly beneath the foliage.

“You pretty much have to prioritize your landscape. Turf is the first thing you let go, then shrubs and lastly you always want to protect your trees and give them the highest priority,” Gritters said.

Ultimately there are ways to save water and save trees, you just need to be water wise

If you switch to desertscape you need to be aware that the water your tree was getting from the grass is gone.

He said you need to add irrigation to supplement that loss of water.