Irrigating established trees:
How to irrigate established trees – keeping in mind the objective for irrigating an established tree is to thoroughly saturate the root zone down to 18”-24” below grade:
To accomplish this, using a soaker hose spread the hose out in concentric circles. Lay the soaker hose out starting 3’-4’ away from trunk, depending on size of tree. Circles should be 2’-3’ apart all the way out to the dripline of the tree. Turn the irrigation water on just to the point where the soaker hose begins to weep, not spray. Leave the water on for 16-24 hours once a month.
To establish planted trees, a good rule of thumb is ½ gallon of water per gallon size of container twice a week. ie: a 15 gallon tree – 8 gallons of water twice a week.; a 24” box tree – 12 to 15 gallons twice a week and so on.