Coastal Oaks and Sycamores Part 2

What you can do to correct issues: 

1. To help trees through the drought, you must water them properly. Do not use overhead sprinklers. These do not water deep enough, and they wet the trunks. Put them on a drip system. There are several ways you can get deep water to your trees. The best way is to install a drip system around the base at feet 2, out from the trunk, and then a second line 1/2 way out to the drip line. Use four gals per hour drip heads. Use the kind with the drips built into them. Depending on the type of soil, water for about 40 minutes once a week. If you only have clay soil, you will need to dig with a post-hole digger 4 (tree vents) made from clay drain pipes about 12 to 24 inches Dec. Place at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock about mid-way to drip. Ensure one of the drip heads runs right over it to allow it to drip inside. Place a grate over it. Notch it to allow the drip through, then tie it into place. Inside this tree vent, you add live compost. Refill monthly. Best if you can filter the drip water, so get a whole-property water filter. Start with 20 minutes and see if water rises out of the tree vent and overflows at the end of that period. That’s the time you will need to water. In a month, turn on the system again and time it when it overflows, that is a new time. It may take a way to get it to run for 40 min without water overflowing.
2. Use a deep root feeder. Get a water filter for the garden. Try BlueSky garden water filter. Attach a siphon to the bib and then the hose. Use a 50 ft hose and not longer or it won’t work. The siphon has a small one that you run into a 5 gal bucket. In the water, you want to add soil biology and a good organic fertilizer. There is one that provides both and that is Organic Magic. Just follow the instructions. I would find a source of live compost to put into a pantyhose and place that into the bucket.
3. Here in Malibu, I can provide you with my special mix that you can use, which is what I use for my customers. Here is the description on my website: https://www.invisiblegardener.com/ blog/blog-post-title-three-wd4pm

You can try fish emulsion (without the urea). I would get Sea 90 and add 1/2 cup in five gals. Stir to dissolve. Add the end of the hose to the siphon unit. Add a spray tip to the hose and spray the leaves, then attach a deep root feeder to the hose and go around the tree with the deep root feeder at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock. Push the deep root feeder into the ground, but first, turn it on slowly, then push it into the ground. Otherwise, the tip will get full of soil and won’t work. I would do this once a week for a month, then once a month for a few months. Have on for at least 15 min each time. This depends on how well it drains. Otherwise, water will overflow out, so move on to the next one. It will eventually allow more water down.

Any questions?

Please send your email to andylopez@invisiblegardener.com In the subject, please use “All Things Malibu"

Thanks

Andy Lopez
Invisible Gardener

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