Is the old rule of thumb, “A 30 gallon tree requires 30 gallons of water a day,” inaccurate?
In a word, yes… this old rule of thumb is totally inaccurate. In fact, there is significant research at the University of Florida that says that anything over 1.5 gallons of water, per inch of tree caliper, per watering application… is totally wasted. They recommend daily application of light amounts of water for optimal tree establishment. We think the old wives tale that says, “A 10 gallon tree needs 10 gallons of water a day” comes from containerized production of nursery stock. In that situation, the containers are filled with very porous planting media. As the trees are flooded with copious amounts of water, most of it drains out of the bottom of the pot and is wasted.
