Water

Watering your tree is the number one thing you can do to help it stay healthy throughout a drought. Watering your trees weekly will help them tremendously. Even very large and mature trees benefit from being watered. If the amount of water you can use is restricted it is best to water only the base of the tree and not your whole yard.

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Mulch

Mulch helps retain water by reducing evaporation from the soil. Apply a layer of mulch or compost around the base of your tree.

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Do not prune during a drought

Trees should not be pruned during a drought. Pruning creates cuts that the tree needs to heal. The tree will be stressed during a drought and pruning will make the tree expend unnecessary energy to heal the cuts.

How Mature Trees Protect Themselves During Drought

Mature trees have special features that help them in drought conditions.

Stomata

In the leaves of a tree there are tiny pores that allow gas exchange, these pores are called “stomata”. As a tree grows and goes about its normal functions water leaves these pores and evaporates. During a drought the tree can close these stomata to allow less evaporation to occur.

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Beneficial Fungi

The roots also have a symbiotic relationship with a fungus that allows the tree to uptake more moisture from the soil. This fungus is called “mycorrhizal fungi”. It works with the tree roots to pull more water out of the soil and bring it to tree.

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Wilting

Mature trees may purposefully wilt so that there is less surface area for sunlight to hit, thus reducing evaporation. Regardless of these features, your trees will certainly appreciate some extra watering during times of drought and tough heat.