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free draining soils 6 years 6 months ago #35780

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I have a question about free draining soils, as fall is upon us in the northern hemisphere. There was a discussion about having to water non-organic or free draining soils agressively. I have a tree in a fairly free draining soil, not completely non-organic, as it does retain some water. Now that temperatures are lower here, it takes days to even start to dry out.. so I water maybe every 2 to 3 days, even if there is a lot of sun it still takes that long to even start to show signs of drying out... It seems logically to me, that I don't need to water as much, but I thought I would ask anyway... do you still water trees in non-organic free draining soils every day in fall?

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free draining soils 6 years 6 months ago #35782

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I have a question about free draining soils, as fall is upon us in the northern hemisphere. There was a discussion about having to water non-organic or free draining soils agressively


That's part of the story. With free draining soils and aggressive watering you need a proper fertilizing program.

I have a tree in a fairly free draining soil, not completely non-organic, as it does retain some water. Now that temperatures are lower here, it takes days to even start to dry out.. so I water maybe every 2 to 3 days


Watering depends on several things, like the soil, the tree, the weather.
I have not watered my trees for a long time. My white pines I am actually even going to have to protect from rain, they are getting too much water.

do you still water trees in non-organic free draining soils every day in fall?


No I don't. I water when needed - and when I want to fertilize.
The following user(s) said Thank You: tubaboy, Clicio, Raydeg

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free draining soils 6 years 6 months ago #35790

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I was over simplifying a bit with the watering every day... maybe I should have written "how often do you water in the fall?" Thanks for confirming what I had suspected... I was getting a bit nervous as some of my trees needed so little water.

How long is a long time? I have mine on a balcony, except for the tropical trees (it gets down to single digit temps at nighr now) so thankfully I don't have to worry about rain, but usually they need to be watered once maybe twice a week. A couple of times it was longer.

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free draining soils 6 years 6 months ago #35793

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How long is a long time?


I hardly dare to say it as I do not want you to follow my example - but it must have been weeks.
Actually, this is not a good practice. If I don't have to water for a longer period, I tend to forget to check. So I checked today. They're OK, but it will not rain until saturday and they could use some water by now ;D

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free draining soils 6 years 6 months ago #35796

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:-D Following your example literally would mean not watering for weeks.... following your example as it should be, would mean watering when the trees need it. :-)
Fall came very quickly this year in North-Rhein Westphalia, so I was tending to overwater a little.... usually there are a few summer like days in September yet, many of the large trees have lost large portions of their leaves.

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free draining soils 6 years 6 months ago #35798

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but it will not rain until saturday and they could use some water by now ;D


Well, that's what the weather forecast said. It's raining hard... no watering my trees today :)

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