Ensuring that the trees and plants under your care have adequate water is one of the most difficult and challenging tasks with maintaining your landscape. Wind, Sun Exposure, and Precipitation all play a significant factor in maintaining a beneficial watering schedule. Plant research has shown that providing trees and shrubs with less frequent ‘deep watering’ is more beneficial than more frequent ‘shallow watering’. This ensures that deep roots will absorb water and nutrients for the soil, as opposed to just the surface roots. Allowing the soil’s water supply to be fully absorbed by the plant material before watering again is beneficial for the expansion of root systems, because it forces roots to expand in their search for water, leading to an overall stronger and healthier plant. Both Black Chernozemic and Dark Gray Chernozemic soils have an average annual water deficiency of 6-14 centimeters, so it is important that homeowners and landscapers plan to provide adequate watering to maintain a healthy landscape.

Zebra Landscaping recommends the following watering schedule using a ‘deep watering technique’. Note that every tree and plant have different watering requirements, and this it is subject to the different environmental and weather conditions in which plant material is exposed to:

Table 1: Deep watering schedule of trees and shrubs for Edmonton and surrounding areas based on zone-type of plant material. *These are general guidelines which do not consider environmental and weather factors.*