Trees provide vital functions in residential and urban landscapes, but often need supplemental irrigation when growing space is limited and during production. There is little knowledge of how much water trees use over the course of a year and as they increase in size.

Contained herein are single-tree examples of daily water use of live oak, red maple and an evergreen holly.  Tree water use ranged from 5 oz to 50 gal per day over the 6 years, as trees grew from 9 inches to over 26 ft in height.  Water use varied 4-fold among species.

This data was collected from 2001 through 2006 at the University of Florida’s Mid-Florida Research and Education Center in Apopka, Florida.  This information is provided to aid those responsible for tree irrigation to conserve water while providing enough for healthy and vigorous trees.

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The information presented is not peer reviewed and not endorsed as recommendations by IFAS (Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences) at the University of Florida.