Do You Water Stress Your Trees

[Firstflush]

I am inquiring if anybody else water stresses their trees on purpose. Like when the container is really light from drying out or the soil is visually dry on top, do you ever let watering go another day to strengthen the tree forcing the roots to push in search of water? I find that sweet spot in the middle of damp and needs water right now makes my trees/plants the healthiest.

I know this is done with some veggies and other cash crops. I guess it would be a little bit sketchy with a five figure specimen tree.

 

[Dav4]

No water stressing here, as everything else I do to them is stressful enough... and moving to MI was a doozy .

Seriously, I never withhold water, particularly if there's a chance of stressing the tree. Keeping a healthy tree in the right substrate will take care of root growth all by itself.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Those herbaceous cash crops show the signs of danger, can recover quickly, and their root growth can be in the range of inches per day.

My conifers don't show damage until they're already dead, and their root growth isn't as strong or rapid. It's easy to push them over the edge.

 

[cmeg1]

I find it best to increase bios stimulants cut back on NPK and cut back on the light a bit and just let photosynthesize and they will dwarf themselves cutting back on water is counterproductive…… Unless you’re ripening a fruit or vegetable towards the end of summer than you boost up the salts whether organic or whatever and it actually restricts water uptake which will increase oils and Turpines and all the sweets sweets…… So this would be the only form of water stressing I would use…. Just doesn’t seem necessary to me for trees.

 

[sorce]

I water-stress them, but the safe way, the opposite way..... excessive water.

Drying out can mean instant death.

Watering too much will always offer signs and allow weeks for you to fix the problem.

Gnats show up first, strong moss growth, maybe a mildew or fungus, a spurt of strong growth will lead to leaves yellowing.....
At any of these stages you can begin to utilize the safety net, and cut back water.

It's safer to keep them on this end of stressed.

Note that just damping them everyday is Unsafe, stagnant, leads to actual "root rot".
Proper flushings result in excessive root growth.

Backwards world at it's finest.

Sorce

 

[Firstflush]

So with trees that like it on the dry side like junipers and pines, you all rely on an extremely fast draining media to keep them on the dry side and/or you watch your water too?

 

[Dav4]

So with trees that like it on the dry side like junipers and pines, you all rely on an extremely fast draining media to keep them on the dry side and/or you watch your water too?

They get watered either right before or right after my maples and quinces... every day that it isn't raining enough to do the job for me.

 

[rockm]

I am inquiring if anybody else water stresses their trees on purpose. Like when the container is really light from drying out or the soil is visually dry on top, do you ever let watering go another day to strengthen the tree forcing the roots to push in search of water? I find that sweet spot in the middle of damp and needs water right now makes my trees/plants the healthiest.

I know this is done with some veggies and other cash crops. I guess it would be a little bit sketchy with a five figure specimen tree.

No. That is counterproductive. Doing so won't push roots to search for water, as in bonsai and bonsai soil, the aim is to have water evenly distributed throughout the soil. Allowing it to dry so completely that the plant has no access to it (Which happens VERY quickly in a bonsai pot, the smaller the pot, the faster the drying), is mostly neglect.

If you're trying to find the sweet spot, allowing the soil to go bone dry isn't a really great path. Best way is to learn how to water properly and appropriately (sunny windy days require more water than overcast humid ones) Understanding the plant's needs and reading soil conditions daily is the best way to learn to water your trees. there are no real shortcuts to understanding that.

 

[roberthu]

So with trees that like it on the dry side like junipers and pines, you all rely on an extremely fast draining media to keep them on the dry side and/or you watch your water too?

It's not that we want to keep the roots on the "dry" side. The goal is to let more air in. With every watering, we don't just replenish water in the pots, we also push stagnant air out and pull new air in as the soil dries out.
I have heard the practice of "water stressing" the roots when I first started paying attention to bonsai when I grew up in China. It was a common or recommended practice to let the pot to almost totally dry out before repotting so when the roots meet new soil after the first watering, the roots extends out due to the "thirst". It's the opposite of what the Japanese do. I don't know if people are still doing that in China since I have not been back for decades. But I go with the Japanese way now because it makes more sense horticulturally.

 

[Colorado]

No I would never intentionally let a tree go bone dry.

 

[Dav4]

It's not that we want to keep the roots on the "dry" side. The goal is to let more air in. With every watering, we don't just replenish water in the pots, we also push stagnant air out and pull new air in as the soil dries out.
I have heard the practice of "water stressing" the roots when I first started paying attention to bonsai when I grew up in China. It was a common or recommended practice to let the pot to almost totally dry out before repotting so when the roots meet new soil after the first watering, the roots extends out due to the "thirst". It's the opposite of what the Japanese do. I don't know if people are still doing that in China since I have not been back for decades. But I go with the Japanese way now because it makes more sense horticulturally.

So, you should let the soil dry out a bit prior to re-pot... drier soil is less "sticky" and easier to remove from the roots which means less trauma. Since re-potting usually takes place in the spring when heat is less of an issue and the trees are generally just breaking dormancy, it's a safer time to let the soil dry out for a few days.

 

[leatherback]

I never let my trees go dry. In fact, I received a new old tree thi weekend, which I repot today. I was shocked how dry the core of the rootball was due to shitty claysubstrate.

 

[ShadyStump]

I don't think he's talking about letting the pot go BONE dry, just drier than normal on occasion.
I can see how, theoretically, this might encourage the roots to spread and fill the whole pot, but if you're watering evenly and thoroughly that shouldn't be of concern, and wouldn't be very effective anyway. The substrate would drain end to end, corner to corner at about the same rate, and as the moisture evaporates it will usually start at the edges of the pot where the sun heats it more, so no water there to encourage the roots to find.

You could strategically position different grades of substrate in the pot to make that actually work, not too unlike what some have done with ROR or similar projects. A water holding substrate near the edges working to more coarse, dry substrate in the middle. Outside of trying to even out the rate the soil dries across the pot, though, I'm not certain why you'd want to.

 

[Scorpius]

I had to repot all my trees in the middle of last June due to a poor choice in soil components that led to water logged soil. I plan on NOT water stressing anything this year. Lol.