Trees facing "Massive die-off"

Need sustained watering

Trees all over southeast Texas are under severe stress because of the drought, according to a story at Click2Houston.com:

“You are seeing just the tip of it. If we don’t get sustained precipitation, you are going to see a massive die off in the next two to three years. Something that will indeed exceed the loss of trees in a storm like (Hurricane) Ike,” said Barry Ward, executive director of Trees for Houston.
Ward said Memorial and Hermann parks could end up with 10 to 20 percent of trees gone if the current drought continues.
“If you think in broad terms of Harris County, that means millions of trees, and that will have a profound effect on the way our landscape looks,” said Ward.
Ward said no trees in the area should have brown leaves at this time of the year, and when the leaves die off this early in the summer, it will be a long, hard recovery.
The dry trees also continue to fuel dangerous fire conditions in the area. The drought is affecting all types of trees, including cedar, elm, pine and white oak. Houston’s live oak trees should be in a growing season in June, according to Ward, but instead are dying back.
Ward recommended watering a tree every three to five days with five gallons of water for every inch of diameter of the tree. He said the best way to water a tree and avoid evaporation or run off is to fill up a five-gallon bucket with holes poked in the bottom of it and let the water run out over the roots of the tree.
“It’s not a matter of just taking care of this in a week or two. It is a matter of needing sustained precipitation over the next three to four to five months just to get us back on an even keel. We have been in almost unremitting drought since Ike. So years of low rainfall, plus wind stress from Ike, with the exception of one wet winter, it has almost been nonstop stress on these trees. The drought now really is almost the straw that broke the camels back,” said Ward.