Expert: Jim Hyland - 12/28/2007

Question
The gardeners ask me to water the lawn and trees 20 minutes everyday for 2 weeks (during the summer because the grass was drying out) and they take special attention to the grass area between the house and the cypress they set the sprinkles to water 8 minutes every other day.  the cypress trees are getting dry, the top (5 ft)of one is totally brown and the others are getting brown dry areas the trees are like 30ft tall. what I am doing wrong?

Answer
What you describe is a watering pattern for grass but not trees. The water is taken up by the grass and the tree is not getting enough water. A tree will need 1 inch of water to survive a drought situation. Place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinklers on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it stop. Do this every other day unless it rains.