I've read that trees this size should get about 15-gallons of water a week. A couple of questions:

1. Would this quantity also apply during the fall months as well?

2. How do you tell when a tree goes dormant? When the leaves fall off? And once dormant, does it still need water?

Thanks for your feedback.

15 gals is an arbitrary number of no relevance to your tree ...

for the next 2 or 3 years.. you are responsible for insuring that it has PROPER water throughout its entire root zone.. and that is a function of you soil.. the size of the root ball.. and the mulch you put down ...

most of us.. insert our finger to the second digit.. and insure that it is neither HOT nor DRY .... [hot in summer means dry] ....

we would then dribble water in the root zone.. until the soil accepts enough water to wet the entire root zone ... not just the first inch of soil. ...

how water moves through the soil in your yard is unknown to us.... in my sand ... i can dig a 2 foot hole.. fill it with water.. and within minutes.. it will be empty ... others in clay.. can come back hours if not the next day and still have standing water ... and even with that drainage .. i may only water a tree once a month ....

leaving aside specific swamp trees ... no tree wants to stand in water.. and most like to nearly dry in between thorough soakings ....

i finished my tree planting almost a month ago in my zone... and frankly... they are still damp .... maybe not the first inch of soil... but further down.. they are.. it just hasnt been warm enough to draw moisture out of the soil ....

it really depends on how you watered it at planting... and then ambient weather ...

soooo insert finger .... and let us know what you find... if you need more info ...

did you mulch??.. if so.. how...

all that said.. its a maple .... hard to kill them outright .... except for its size.. smaller ones are easier to get going ..... but that shouldnt stop yours ....

water now.. is not as important as water when the heat of summer hits next july ... and for the next 2 or 3 summers ...

trees are dormant.. when the leaves fall off ... though they may continue to grow roots or pump water ... they will come out of dormancy after the soil thaws in z5.. and the soil achieves some magical temp number .... lol .. and you will know that.. when the buds start to swell ...

good luck

ken

PS: you may water as late as you want.. so long as you insure that the water drains.. and does not turn the entire root mass into an ice cube ... roots need air as much as water ... and they cant breath in ice .... but again.. i doubt it will need much more water.... if watered properly at planting ...

what i said.. was that in z5 .... with temps averaging in the 40's ... with no heat to leach moisture form the soil ... and rain pretty regular ... and humidity around 80% .... IF IT WAS PROPERLY WATERED AT PLANTING... it """" PROBABLY"""" isnt going to dry between now and ground freeze ... it would be much worse to drown it near ground freeze... than to leave it be...

and i thought i said .. many times.. that inserting the finger.. is the ONLY way to know what is going on ...

if the soil is 'moist' .. thats all the roots need this late in a z5 year .... it does not need to be 'WET'

have a great day .... where is gal.. lol

ken

But I will just add that the 15G per week is a pretty typical guestimate of watering requirements for the establishment of a new tree during the growing season. 5G per inch of caliper. But for various reasons, this may be insufficient (weather, soil conditions) or possibly too much - it is intended to be a guide only. Outside the growing season - in late fall or winter when the tree is dormant - watering needs decrease as Brandon indicated, but they don't necessarily stop. Generally, increased rainfall during this time of year as well as colder temperatures that reduce soil evaporation call a halt to hand watering or other irrigation but it is important to check the soil periodically to make sure it remains moist to the touch, especially if you go several weeks without decent rainfall.

Good info on watering...any thing else we can or should do to ensure the health of the tree? Fertilize, etc...?

I choose a swamp white oak as the area is at the bottom of a hill and water tends to accummulate there. And the list was limited and this suited my needs the best, I felt. So if you have any advice specific to this kind of tree, that would also be appreciated!

GL to the OP as well!

Fertilize trees and shrubs only when needed. Trees don't need to be fertilized unless nutrients are missing from the soil. A soil test is a good way to check to see if nutrients are missing. If you haven't had a soil test done or have some other reason to suspect a lack of available nutrients, you probably shouldn't be adding fertilizer. Fertilizer can do more harm than good if not needed.

Besides maintaining proper soil moisture, the most important thing you can do post-planting (if it wasn't done at planting) is to properly mulch your trees or shrubs. Ask (or search the forum) if you aren't sure about proper mulching technique. Mulch wide, not deep, and don't allow mulch to pile up around the trunk (especially no mulch volcanoes).

I have been wanting to get a soil test in general. The local farm bureau does them. The last tree that was there died due to systemic issues of being planted too deeply and in a too watery area for it (it was a Greenspire Linden).

It looks pretty much dead now, but I assume that won't be an issue? It has a 1 year warranty and was something I had to replace due to village ordinance (hence why I had a limited selection). I am not terribly worried, but I want to do everything possible to ensure its success.

However, that's for trees grown in rootmaker containers, not trees in conventional smooth sided container that you see at big box stores. Big difference there. Trees grown in rootmakers had many roots ready to explode right out into surrounding soil unlike the ones grown in conventional pots. The roots just mainly circled around many times or so called root bound.

I'm a huge fan of Whitcomb's work.

I'm not sure of the exact quote you are looking at from Dr. Whitcomb, but I'd bet my comments wouldn't disagree with his findings.

Woody plants can only use so much of any particular nutrient. More than that cannot help the plant, but more of some nutrients can definitely hurt plants. I think you'll find this proven beyond any doubt in most of the scientific literature and well-established in real life experience.

i would hazard a guess.. that 99.99999999% of the time .... a tree in mother earth ... does NOT need ANYTHING .... once fully established ..

yes.. i rule out zone inappropriate ... and i rule of swamp plants planted in a desert .... desert plants planted in a swamp .. and all the other machinations that we 'gardeners' dream up ....

but as a general rule .. they just dont need anything ...

christine... are there dozens of trees growing up and down your street .... does anyone feed them???? ....

your prior tree died .. for the reasons you note.... so why do you want to complicate the survival of its replacement ... by treating it like a child that needs to be fed?????

if you want to insure success... plant it properly .. and insure proper watering and drainage ....

a soil test sure wont hurt.. but if you are planting an oak .. and there are 20 oaks within 1/4 mile.. odds are... oaks will grow there .... its not like you are in some region where pH is out of bounds .... etc ... again ruling out some z8 oak that only grows in the deep south ... [live oak]

your BIGGEST PROBLEM .. is the idiot urban landscape architects [sorry dan... lol] dictating what tree you can plant.. are these the same nimrods who planted millions of norway maples in the late 50's and 60's ... planted bradford pears by the millions in the 70's and 80's ... recommended poplars... recommended lombardy poplars??? geez ... get the government off my property ... odds are i could make a better choice of tree than some government... but i digress ...

well .. that ought to start a debate ... lol ... go at it...

ken

As for feeding, of course I would feed a child, so why not feed a young tree? :) That is a serious question... I want to make sure it takes and that the roots establish properly. If I can give it a little boost with some fertilizer, why not?

*The HOA used to only allow 2 kinds of trees. My greenspire linden and some kind of maple. Since a great many of them are dying and the lindens are subject to Japanese beetle invasion, they have now allowed us to use any tree authorized by the village, and the village has a program where they pay for half the tree and do the removal/replanting for you. So I got myself a mighty oak!

You are confusing artificial environment with natural environment. Completely razed area is not natural environment anymore. Nutrient cycling is destroyed. Most of us have to deal with that. You gotta provide fertilizer not matter what. It takes long time for ground to become suitable for trees (they prefer fungal dominant soil but that takes forever to get there). In natural environment, you get massive nutrient cycling. In artificial environment, you don't. Anyway, I prefer organic fertilizer. Nothing improves soil faster than organic fertilizer. It's much cheaper and easier than compost.

Brandon,

I have a couple books of Whitcomb's mainly for container production. I think he wrote an article somewhere about it but he said he found that trees grown in rootmaker container tend to take advantage of nutrients right away but not trees grown in conventional container. The root system in rootmaker is far superior. No circling or girdling roots. Many roots are air pruned in rootmaker and constricted in roottrapper bag and ready to explode out in all directions right away and will readily absorb nutrients. That's not the case with plants grown in conventional containers. That's probably why there's people saying it doesn't work during first year.

For what its worth, I've planted several thousands of dollars worth of plants over in just less than 3 years.

Ranging from 1g containers to 5" caliper trees. I haven't fertilized any of them. Plant properly, water properly and mulch properly...and of course meet their cultural requirements.

Guess what, knock on wood, no fatalities. I can't say I'd question any of the plants health at this point either.

The only plants I fertilize are my azaelas due their need for acidic soil...my soil is neutral to slightly acidic.

Congratulations on your Oak choice...I still need to find one for my landscape. I received a good suggestion from this forum, just have to find it, lol.