Reducing Irrigation Water Due to the Drought? Don't Forget About Your Trees!

SAN DIEGO - March 31, 2015 - PRLog -- The drought continues in California with minimal winter rain and almost no snowpack in the Sierra's.  Combined with years of previous dry winters and reduced snowpack, this upcoming year will be very stressful and challenging for wildland and urban tree forests.

Driving around San Diego, it is easy to see the effect of the drought on the urban forest.  Particularly vulnerable are non-irrigated trees in our local canyons and open spaces.  Years of minimal rainfall has resulted in soils so depleted of water, even drought tolerant Eucalyptus and Oaks are dying back.

As a certified and registered consulting arborist, I have been fielding in increased number of calls from property owners concerned about their tree(s) declining. They assume the decline is due to some kind of insect or disease.  There are many reasons for a tree to decline, and it usually requires a tree professional to determine the cause.  There are many biotic and abiotic factors influencing tree decline.

Drought has now become a serious abioitic environmental factor causing tree decline and dieback.  As water agencies increase water restrictions for outdoor irrigation, people continue to reduce or stop watering their lawns, gardens and landscapes.  In doing so, they might not be condidering the effect on trees located on or adjacent to their property.

Tree roots extend far beyond a the tree drip line (the outer edge of tree crown), seeking out soil moisture wherever it can be found.  Trees adapt and become dependent on water from adjacent irrigation.  When that water source is reduced or eliminated, the tree will begin to decline, eventually dying if water is not provided.

Jeremy Rappoport, certifed and registered consulting arborist and President of Rappoport Development Consulting Services recently blogged about the effect of the California drought on tree at http://landscapeexpertwitness.com/2015/03/31/reducing-irr...