Getting Established

I have a question in another area of the forum that may not get answered, so I'll ask it here. All the plants/trees I've gotten so far all say the same thing, and I'm sure all plants/trees will say it too: Water frequently until established.

I've yet to determine how you know a plant is "established". I know that there's not a set rule, like "it's established after a month, or a year, or ....". But what are the signs I should look for that will tell me it's "established"?

BY the way, my purple flower cup plants are still alive ;)

There are varying degrees of established. The first sign that a plant has its roots settled in nicely will be that it'll start to put out some top growth. But especially with larger things like trees & shrubs, it can take a couple years to be really, really established because they need time to develop a deep & extensive root system. In general, it's the first couple months where you have to water really frequently, after that you can usually start to back off a bit. With perennials, I typically start treating them as fully established in their 2nd year in terms of how often I water them, but with trees & shrubs I will typically continue to water them a bit more frequently for their first couple years in the ground. Once you get past those first couple months, it's better to water a little less frequently but water deeply when you do--that will encourage the roots to go down deep which is important in a hot dry climate. If you give them little sips on the surface all the time, the roots will stay near the surface and you'll be stuck having to water them frequently forever.

My rule of thumb, it takes a year before they're established.

This message was edited Jun 15, 2011 10:38 AM

From all I have read and heard, trees and shrubs do best when watered deeply, daily for the first two weeks. After that, you make sure that they do not dry out...usually making sure they get at least 1 inch of water (either rainfall or from the hose) per week for the first year. By the second year, you are usually familiar with their water usage and can adjust accordingly, but I agree with Ecrane...it takes a couple years for them to become fully established and watering deeply makes for healthier, stronger plants.

Great answers! Thanks! The mesquite tree does have quite a few new branches near the bottom already. I planted it ... about 2 months ago. So the dumb question of the day is this: Will the tree grow upwards from the bottom so that these branches wind up high? Or will it only grow from the top meaning these very low branches will always be near the ground? I really should take a gardening and tree care class....(Hopefully you'll see the new branches better if you enlarge the photo)

Those low branches will always be low--you'll probably want to prune them off eventually.

Mesquite grows every which way. For multiple trunks, cut to the ground; or, as been suggested, cut lower branches off. Mesquite is a legume imparting nitrogen to the soil. If you do not want them everywhere, pick up the bean pods (edible).