Urgent: Water your trees!
Cool off by watering a tree! Summer is getting hot, hot, HOT and we need every New Yorker to help protect our growing, green neighbors by watering them.
Here are some tips to help you provide for our leafy friends during the summer season:
- Trees need 15-20 gallons of water per week, especially during the hot summer months!
- Water slowly. Water needs to water penetrates the soil and not just run off the surface.
- Water at the soil level. The roots need water directly. Avoid wetting the leaves.
Water hard to carry? Here are some ideas!
- Poke small holes at the bottom of a large trash can! Fill it with 15-20 gallons of water and leave the trash can next to the tree overnight.
- Ask building maintenance staff to water trees! They can do it while they are hosing off sidewalks.
- Ask street vendors and merchants for help! They can dump water from coolers with melted ice or flower buckets into nearby tree pits at the end of the day.
Worried about conserving water?
- Don't let that leaking shower, bathtub, or sink water go to waste! Capture it into a container or bucket and use it for watering trees.
- Capture spontaneous drips of water from air conditioners and dehumidifiers! These droplets may annoy you, but trees can use them. Capture this water into a container for watering small trees.
- Trees helping trees! Spread fallen leaves or wood chips (free from your local tree removal company) around the base of the tree to conserve water and to keep the soil cool and wet.
Find more tips or let us know about your great work through the MillionTreesNYC Stewardship Corps .
MillionTreesNYC Stewardship Corps is a citizen-based program channeling the power of volunteerism to urban tree care. Under this umbrella, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Greenbelt Conservancy, GreenThumb, Partnerships for Parks, Queens Botanical Garden, New York Botanical Garden and Trees New York engage everyday New Yorkers in greening their streets by providing accessible, no-cost tree care and community organizing training.
