Collin McMichael, of Treefolks, demonstrates the proper way to plant a tree. Photo by Caroline Homer, Travis County Master Gardener. |
Most of the trees that we plant here in central Texas are
deciduous so they will soon be dropping all their leaves and going dormant to
avoid the damaging cold of winter. During the winter with no growth happening
above ground, trees are free to focus their resources below ground on their
roots. If planted in the fall, trees have almost half a year to establish their
root systems before the temperatures get overbearingly hot and they start to
need more water to survive.
In order to take up water, plants must release water into
the environment through a process called transpiration. During the heat of
summer, the air is so hot and dry that it practically sucks the water right out
of the leaves, which is why during extremely hot weather like we had in August
and September of this year, many trees dropped their leaves and went dormant.
Dormancy is simply a plant’s way of avoiding stress. It takes a lot of water to
support a canopy full of leaves, and if there isn’t enough water, which is a pretty
stressful situation, a good strategy is to drop those leaves and go to sleep
until the stress passes. We’ve received a lot of calls these past few weeks
about trees losing their leaves early and struggling through the summer.
However, I bet now that the temperatures have begun to drop and the sun becomes
less intense, those trees may take advantage of that short autumn window to get
just a little bit of growth before winter and its true dormant season arrives.
The lower temperature and higher relative humidity of fall
help to keep trees better hydrated, so planting during autumn gives trees more
time to acclimate to their new environment in your yard and get established.
If you’re still deciding what type of tree to plant, here
are two resources you can utilize. The first is the tree selector tool on
the Texas A&M Forest Service site. The second is the Earth-Kind® plant
sector database. Some of my favorite trees like Catclaw Acacia, Cedar Elm, and
Lacey Oak are in the Region-F-
Hill Country & Central Coast list.
And check out our throw-back Texas Arbor Day video on Central Texas Gardener, too!
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