Watering mature trees

mloc123

I planted some mature trees about a month ago now, they are 8-10ft tall cotoneaster cornubias. I have watered them every day or two since... out of paranoia more than anything.

How long should I continue to water them?

Norfolk Enchants_

mloc123 wrote: »

I planted some mature trees about a month ago now, they are 8-10ft tall cotoneaster cornubias. I have watered them every day or two since... out of paranoia more than anything.

How long should I continue to water them?

Your answer is you water them as nescessary, you have to monitor them and asses their requiements, overwatering has the potential to be more damaging than underwatering.

redser7

Mulch around the bottom to stop water evaporating. If it gets dry under the mulch then you know you definitely need to water. I would imagine that with the mixed weather we've been having there wouldn't be a need to water by hand.
You don't want to mollycoddle them too much. They need to stretch their roots out. If you go too easy on them and water and feed them it will keep their roots from searching out what it needs in the surrounding soil.

mloc123

Cheers, I have mulch down around them. So if I check an inch or two under the mulch every couple of days and it is still damp I should just leave them?

Norfolk Enchants_

mloc123 wrote: »

Cheers, I have mulch down around them. So if I check an inch or two under the mulch every couple of days and it is still damp I should just leave them?

Correct, TBH in our climate watering once every 3/4 days is plenty but only if we get a prolonged (unlikely) dry period.
Also generally speaking after the first growing season there should be no need to water at all.

lazybones32

With most plants, a good soaking once a week is better than splashes every day.

If it hasn't rained in 7 days of blazing sunshine, give each tree 10 litres of water. Morning or evening.
Instead of pouring directly on the trunk, spread the water around the root system.