IDEAL Landscaping

In addition to turf, all Ideal homes come complete with trees, shrubs and additional landscaping. These all require careful care to help them get off to a good start in the new landscape so they can live happily for years to come. This care begins with watering.

Watering your new trees, shrubs and plants

While there are no exact rules for watering plants, they should all be watered when they are planted, adjusting going forward according to the plant’s needs. Since different plants have different moisture requirements, soil and plant conditions should be used as the primary rule.

• TIP: Plant materials come with a care tag containing information about sun/shade requirements and when and how much to water. Plant the tag along with the plant to help you maintain a correct watering schedule.

Most trees and shrubs in Oklahoma reach maximum growth when they receive the equivalent of at least 1 inch of water from rainfall or irrigation each week during the growing season. Monitor your newly planted trees and shrubs daily.

• Watering guidelines
  • Do not water until plants show signs of light wilting. Apply water slowly to allow it to soak into the soil. 
    • TIP: A Treegator bag watering tool can help you with this. It holds 20 gallons of water and drips water our right where you need it over a four-hour period.
  • Wet the soil to a depth of 12 inches. This encourages a uniform root system which is better able to withstand disease.
  • Do not over water, since overwatering can leach nutrients from the soil or deplete oxygen from the roots.
  • Do not plant plants that like a dry environment next to gutter downspouts or other areas where excessively wet soils may develop.
  • Give special attention to plants where an overhanging roof may block rainfall.Check the soil level near the root zone and not just at the surface before deciding whether to irrigate. Quick summer showers may not supply enough moisture to wet the entire area around the root ball. To determine if you need to water, pull back the mulch and dig down four to 6 inches beside the root ball and check the moisture level there. You can also use a long, skinny screwdriver to push into the root ball to get an idea of the moisture level.
• Mulch plants whenever possible to reduce supplemental irrigation and insulate the plant from freezing temperatures.

• Winter irrigation

In Oklahoma, homeowners must be aware of how to care for plants in the winter. Plants benefit from winter irrigation when temperatures rise above freezing. For typical Oklahoma winters, this could be a significant portion of the season. This is particularly true for all broad-leaf evergreens and many deciduous (they lose their leaves in winter) species. When plants are properly mulched, the need for winter irrigation is greatly reduced.

• How do I tell if a plant has been under- or overwatered?

For the most part, if a plant starts to die from the top-down or the outside-in with dry crunchy leaves, that is a sign of not enough water. These plants usually look good at the bottom where the water makes it up only so far. This is fairly easy to fix if caught in the early stages because all you have to do is increase the watering schedule and fertilize with fish emulsion around the base to give the plant new energy for growth. 

If a plant has been overwatered, leaves usually turn yellow with moisture still in them beginning from the lower portion of the plant and starting from the inside out. The tops are the last thing to look bad because they are getting the right amount of water to the top of the tree. Planting a tree too deep with also cause these symptoms. Overwatering is a lot harder to fix! 

Things to help include: 

• Pull away mulch from around the trunk
• Turn sprinklers away from the plant and stop watering and let it dry out. 

Sources:
Oklahoma State University Turfgrass Program
Marcum’s Nursery