Temps in the high 90’s and below aver­age rainfall:

In times of lit­tle or no rain­fall, and espe­cially dur­ing the hot sum­mer months, our leafy friends need help in stay­ing alive. Trees, espe­cially those that have been in the ground less than three years, require 25 gal­lons of water – com­pa­ra­ble to 1.5 inches of rain­fall per week to grow healthy and strong.

Water­ing trees on and sur­round­ing your prop­erty is a small invest­ment that yields a high return. Healthy trees pro­vide cool­ing shade, help lower util­ity bills, increase prop­erty val­ues, make neigh­bor­hoods more liv­able, and are less likely to fall on your house or car dur­ing a storm.

To keep you in the know on when to water your trees, Casey Trees, the penul­ti­mate local foun­da­tion that edu­cates, fos­ters and cul­ti­vates the Dis­trict urban canopy, has cre­ated a Tree Water­ing Guide. Every Mon­day, they issue a water­ing rec­om­men­da­tion. [Dry, Nor­mal or Wet — and the asso­ci­ated water­ing rec­om­men­da­tion — Time to Water, Addi­tional Water­ing Optional or No Addi­tional Water­ing Needed respec­tively.] It is posted on their web­site, www.caseytrees.org You can also friend them on Face­book and Twit­ter feed.

Addi­tion­ally, for per­sons who reg­is­ter and make the “25 to Stay Alive” pledge, Casey Trees will mail a com­pli­men­tary rain gauge to mon­i­tor rain­fall totals at home. If you receive less than 1.5 inches of rain­fall, it is time to water. Casey is also con­tin­u­ing their Ooze Tube pro­gram. Res­i­dents can pick up Ooze Tubes free-of-charge from their down­town office dur­ing nor­mal busi­ness hours.