Mature Hardwood Trees can suffer during a drought just like yards and other shrubs. We often don’t think about, nor worry about hardwood trees during drought. However, these trees can suffer significant stress during droughts.

What is a Drought?

A drought is a significant lack of precipitation over an extended period of time.  As a result, there is damage to plants and trees and possibly a water shortage. I think that droughts are exacerbated by windy, and hot weather. The effects of a water shortage in the winter are very different that the effects of a water shortage during a hot and windy summer. In conclusion, it might take a lot longer during a winter drought to see effects on plant life, especially mature hardwood trees, than during a summer drought.

Are Mature Hardwood Trees Negatively Affected by Drought?

The answer is complex, but yes, they can be. After all, they are plants that must have water to survive. Let’s look at a few simple issues that impact drought survival.

First, if you have read any of my posts on tree root systems. To review, most have roots that extend laterally, not vertically. Some, but few, have taproots that extend vertically into the ground. These might be able to access deeper levels of water. In conclusion, mature hardwoods really do not have a good way to access ground water during a drought.

Second, tree location. Trees that are located in a forest probably have less drought stress than trees located in the middle of a field. Forests provide shade as well as possible preservation of what little water does fall. Water evaporates quickly in open areas. Equally as relevant, in open areas there is no protection from the wind, therefore increasing the rate of evaporation.

Third, and probably most important, is the trees’ health. Trees that are thriving going into a drought, will most likely survive a year or two of low to minimal precipitation. Trees that are already stressed, become more stressed with the lack of water. This compounds their ability to fight off pests and other environmental issues that weaken them further.

Watering Trees

Of course you can’t water every tree in your yard. You may not be able to water any, if the drought is severe enough. If you can spare some water, it is good to water mature trees that were not thriving going into the drought. Get some soaker hoses and create a spiral right starting at the trunk and working out to the dripline of the tree. Turn them on slowly at night, once a week to provide the tree some added nourishment to fight the drought. You never know, you just might save a beautiful tree, that would be very hard to replace.

Below is a holly tree that did very poorly over the winter. Due to its location on the corner of the house, it sustained significant cold and wind damage. It is showing signs of significant stress. This tree was planted about 15 months ago. Theoretically, it should be able to survive r without watering. However, due to record head and record lack of precipitation this summer, I started watering it once the rain stopped. Even with the intense conditions, it is thriving.