Watering Pine Tree on top in Winter

[mocean]

This is my first time in the forum. There are so many knowledgeable and helpful people here, that I thought someone might have the answer to my question. I have a 20 year old pine that is being hit with water

-every- night by my neighbor's wild sprinklers. My understanding is that you shouldn't water pine trees from overhead, especially in Winter when temperatures are freezing. Before I speak with my neighbor, I thought I'd ask the experts here if my pine tree is in any danger. Some of the branches are now bare of needles since this began, but it didn't occur to me that the watering could be causing it. Could this excessive over-the-top watering cause diseases. or weaken my tree making it vulnerable to pests?

Thank you for your help.

[Billy]

Your neighbor waters in the winter? What and why? Water and snow from above seem like they would be part of any pine's job description.

[Brooklyn1]

Um, many parts of the planet have warm weather in winter. duh

If the neighbor is regularly sprinkling that tree (especially at night) it will become severely damaged and eventually die... those defoliated branches will not recoup, they are already dead.

[Billy]

Warm winters in the U.K., Shelly? Duh. Don't play dumb with me.

You are playing, aren't you?

[gardengal]

with a sprinkler on a daily or nightly basis :-) And yes, it can be damaging to the tree, winter or not, and yes, bare branches will not resprout healthy growth.

I'd speak to your neighbors and let them know a) they are wasting water by indiscriminate watering with ill-directed sprinklers; b) unless very dry, few landscape plants require routine watering of any kind in winter; and c) watering at night is never advised, regardless of the season. And that they are killing your tree by not paying closer attention to how their sprinklers are directed.

[Brooklyn1]

You've never been to the UK, have you?

The entire southern portion especially the south like London never sees more than a very brief freaky light frost that disappears almost immediately, and maybe every ten years a few freaky flurries. And no sane person waters this time of year in England... it's constantly wet, Wet, WET! DUHMB Billy!

[Billy]

Does Heathrow count?

Found your bottle again, eh, Shelly? Good for you. Now explain to me how warm/wet winters have anything to do with the Salisbury Plain, or whatever it is that you are going on about now. Locally, the pines in Cazadero get some 85 in. of rain a year and seem to do just fine. Obviously, pines are neither riparian, or aquatic plants, which seem to do well in dry temperate climates.

Since the poster identified themselves as being from the U.K., how did you ever come up with warm winters? Then this seems to clash with your second wintery example of frost and a few freaky flurries (of snow I presume).

Is any of this getting through that sotted skull of yours?

You may want to sober-up before you apologize, duh.

[gardengal]

Have YOU ever been to England?? You might want to check this out:

this from just the year before the above report: London is considered the equivalent of USDA hardiness zone 8, which translates to an AVERAGE winter minimum temperature of 10-20F (-12 to

-7C), so frosts are not at all that "freaky". There are southern coastal areas that are included in zone 9 but they are limited in their scope and even those can receive periodic frosts and snowfall. Zone 10 locations, which might realistically considered "frost-free" are even more limited in their scope.

[mocean]

Yes, it rarely drops into the 30's in Southern California, but it does get cold this time of year. It was 38f last night. I'm not sure but, I think my neighbor is watering some wild grasses at night to help them spread across about 1/3 of an acre. It's too windy during the day to water. I'm only guessing as I haven't asked him why he's watering.

Yes, the branches have lost -all- their needles and the branches themselves are dead now. One just broke off in the wind today. The branches are only going bare where the water is hitting them. I just didn't think it would be devastating to the tree since it's endured drastic fluctuations in weather for so many years. However, now that I can see that the branches are devoid of needles -and- dead, I am very concerned. I only hope my neighbor is nice about this. If this tree dies, it'll cost me a fortune to have it removed.

Thank you.

[David Hare-Scott]

Could you explain how the branches will be damaged?

David

[FarmI]

Maybe not where you live but this is an international group. Where I live watering at night is very desirable as it gives the poor gasping plants a chance to recover from the day's heat. the only problem is trying to water when 2 of the world's 10 most venomous snake varieties also like to be out and about.

[Brooklyn1]

Regardless of where one lives whenever possible turf grass should be irrigated in darkness... just before dawn is best... turf grass roots do not absorb moisture during full sun so any irrigation during strong light will evaporate during periods of hot weather and so is wasted. Irrigation at late afternoon and evening will cause the grass blades to remain wet all night so will cause mold and other diseases to flourish. Naturally we can't control weather but we can definitely control irrigation... set your automatic sprinklers to water in the wee morning hours prior to sun-up... every golf course on the planet follows this regimen. Whenever I see homeowners standing out in their yard with a garden hose watering their lawn at noon I think they are deranged.

Venemous snakes... all the more reason for automatic sprinkler systems.

[Brooklyn1]

The damage to your tree is due to your neglecting to confront your neighbor... WTF are you waiting for... in all probability he hasn't a clue that he's destroyng your tree. And in the US it's at minimum a legal trespass to water a neighbor's property, when intentional it's an assault... his watering your tree is the same as if you had your Porche parked in your driveway with the top down and your neighbor's sprinkler filled it with water... take pictures and also advise in writing sent by certified mail and have him pay to remove your dead/damaged tree and pay to replace it. If you caught your neighbor screwing your wife you could hold her liable, but here you can't blame your tree.

[dr-solo]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago

[Una]

Plants in the understory of tropical forest tend to become filthy with algae and lichens, dead insects, and poop. Only the newest leaves look as shiny and clean as a well kept houseplant. Rain helps only a little because while it may wash off some debris, it brings more debris down from the canopy above, and the algae etc flourish.

As for desertification in the cradle of humanity, people who make their livings by studying this say the single most important factor has been centuries of intensive and large scale resource extraction. That means clear cut logging followed by commercial agriculture in which harvests are not followed by return of organic matter to the soil. The great cities of history and prehistory alike have been on waterways, aka giant sewers. All food and wood for building and cooking and heating for millions of people living in relative luxury is imported and consumed, and what is not burned is flushed into the water and goes to the bottom of the sea. None is returned to the agricultural soil. The result is steady depletion of organic matter and reduced ability to retain water in the soil. This contributes to erosion and further loss of that ability.

A similar trend has occurred in history, in the southwestern United States. In Spanish Colonial times the land supported vast quantities of grazing animals. Not anymore.

Una

[dr-solo]

On Wed, 1 Dec 2010 07:53:16 -0700 (MST), [e-mail] (Una) wrote: in the Amazon it is now happening because of climate change. the rains have moved and the trees are dying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago

[Brooklyn1]

What clairvoyant claptrap n' gobbledygook... these guys are laughing at yoose: