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Lets get the easy ones out of the way first. If your tree has been planted for less than a year, then watering in dry weather is only sensible - the tree might die if you don't. Similarly if you grow trees in containers you will presumably know that they need more water at this time of year when the weather is hot.
OK on to my main thought, having looked round my trees and the surrounding garden its obvious from the facts that the grass has stopped growing and that the weeds are looking droopy that its is time to make decisions re watering my established apple, plum pear etc trees. The trees will survive whatever I do, but the fruit that is developing on them now is another matter.
The plum trees are the largest say 30+ feet high and as the roots on trees are in proportion to the size above ground, I can leave them for now, as they will get water from deep down. The apples and pears are about 20' high and some of them are carrying a fair crop. I've got a lot more than I need, but I prefer to have some spare in case of problems with pests etc so what I will start doing is water a few of the trees which I definitely want good fruit from on rotation starting tomorrow and keep at it well the current dry spell continues - most of the trees will not be watered, as I don't have any outlet for tons of spare fruit.
Finally when watering a tree do not stand around spraying water about from a hose as you might on a lawn - get the hose near the base of the tree and make sure a reasonable trickle is coming out but not gushing (if you're on a slope you may need to make a trench to stop run off)- leave the hose there for about 30 mins depending on the sort of soil you're on - there's no point starting watering if you can't do it regularly until the next load of really soaking rain comes along - its an all or nothing decision.
I'm not trying to tell other people what to do here - everybody has different gardens, different priorities and different views on how water should be used. I do want to say that if you have a crop of fruit on your trees which is developing, then if your garden is as dry as mine, unless you get rain soon you won't get much of a crop unless you water.
OK on to my main thought, having looked round my trees and the surrounding garden its obvious from the facts that the grass has stopped growing and that the weeds are looking droopy that its is time to make decisions re watering my established apple, plum pear etc trees. The trees will survive whatever I do, but the fruit that is developing on them now is another matter.
The plum trees are the largest say 30+ feet high and as the roots on trees are in proportion to the size above ground, I can leave them for now, as they will get water from deep down. The apples and pears are about 20' high and some of them are carrying a fair crop. I've got a lot more than I need, but I prefer to have some spare in case of problems with pests etc so what I will start doing is water a few of the trees which I definitely want good fruit from on rotation starting tomorrow and keep at it well the current dry spell continues - most of the trees will not be watered, as I don't have any outlet for tons of spare fruit.
Finally when watering a tree do not stand around spraying water about from a hose as you might on a lawn - get the hose near the base of the tree and make sure a reasonable trickle is coming out but not gushing (if you're on a slope you may need to make a trench to stop run off)- leave the hose there for about 30 mins depending on the sort of soil you're on - there's no point starting watering if you can't do it regularly until the next load of really soaking rain comes along - its an all or nothing decision.
I'm not trying to tell other people what to do here - everybody has different gardens, different priorities and different views on how water should be used. I do want to say that if you have a crop of fruit on your trees which is developing, then if your garden is as dry as mine, unless you get rain soon you won't get much of a crop unless you water.
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