Perspectives

More than 99% of Texas is under drought conditions, creating negative impacts to our landscape – especially to trees. With no end in sight, how do we protect our trees under extreme heat and dry conditions? The most important thing you can do for your trees is water – which can be a challenge when trying to conserve the necessary resource. “We are starting to see widespread drought stress in trees across the state,” said Karl Flocke, Texas A&M Forest Service Woodland Ecologist. “At this point, we are even seeing some trees starting to die because of stress.” Dying trees are generally in isolated pockets where the soil is dry and not holding much water, or in parts of the state where there has been an extended period without rain. “Several different species are dying and declining rapidly,” said Flocke. “But generally, we are seeing the most drought-induced mortality on oaks, a few elm trees, hackberry trees and even some junipers.” The best thing we can do to slow mortality rates in trees is water them, and consistently. Consistent watering is crucial for trees because there is no water storage system within them. Most of the water taken up by trees is not held in the trees but instead is returned to the atmosphere in a process called transpiration.