Oregonians Asked To Soak Their Trees

Given Oregon’s multiple years of drought, trees on your property likely need human intervention to get through the summer.

“Deep soaking once a month for established trees helps get them over that increasingly long period of drought.”

Jim Gersbach, with the nonprofit Oregon Community Trees, said the western part of the state used to get enough rain in the summer, but that’s no longer the case, leading to more tree deaths.

“If you have one dry summer and the next ten years are ample rainfall, then you may be able to overcome that. But we’re getting back to back to back years of drought. And that cumulative drought stress can be very damaging, and even fatal, to these trees.”

Gersbach urged Oregonians to take part in Soak It Week, the last week of August, and give mature trees a long, deep watering, which should be enough to last until the rainy season.  Trees planted in the last five years need more frequent deep waterings.

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