We are once again faced with a drought here in Minnesota! The occasional rains are just not enough to sustain plants that have been planted this year or last year.

For landscape plants – once they’ve been planted – will take a year or better to become fully established in which their roots are out enough to obtain water from surrounding soil. Some plants need a couple of years or more to be able to obtain moisture without assistance.

Now you say – “I have an irrigation system – I don’t need to water my new trees – the irrigation will do it”. This isn’t true. When you plant or had someone plant – that big new tree – the root ball was sizeable. If your irrigation is set to apply an inch of water to your grass for the week – that means that the root ball of your new plant has had water soak down a couple of inches or so and the rest of the root system hasn’t been watered. You need to specifically water the plant. If you planted a new tree or two last summer – keep watering it this summer!

It doesn’t take as long as you think – most hoses with city water pressure will run out a gallon of water in just a matter of seconds. This means it will probably take you 10 to 15 seconds to apply 5 gallons of water to a plant and you can move on to the next one.

So – the next time that you say – “Wow, is it hot out here – let’s get a glass of cold water” – think of your plants as well.