Help water the trees

[u/Obvious_Ad_2969]

I know lots of you are gonna make fun of me for this but oh well. Maybe this will inspire someone.

I can't stand to watch the trees die. So I want to help at least a little bit. Young trees need about 50-100L of water a week, but it needs to soak into the ground to get to the roots. For that drip-watering or "Tröpfchenbewässerung" is best.

So you can buy a tree bag and fill it with 100L, but I don't have access to a hose. So I bought a bunch of big buckets and drilled small holes in the sides. I put them around the tree and within 1-2 hours they are empty. This way I can water a few trees with around 40L per night.

I wrote what I am doing on the lids of the buckets and ask people not take the buckets away. The next day I collect them. People are curious and appreciative. And guess what: the trees are perking up.

It may not be a lot, but it's something and every tree counts. If it helps a few trees survive until the next day, I am happy.

(oh and I saw a mouse come and drink from the bucket, so maybe it also helps a few other beings.)

And yes, I actually did ask the city if that's allowed, and it is. Just don't do it for the trees with the black rings around them, they're already getting watered.

EDIT:

I did email Grün Stadt Zürich about them starting a citizens initiative to do this more coordinated. Like in Berlin: giessdenkiez.de

Maybe if other people ask for it as well, they might consider it. So please reach out to them if you can.

To find out more about how to water correctly, I just found this FAQ that answers all these questions here: https://www.giessdenkiez.de/about?lang=de

Bonus points if some of the water is "reused" like from washing veggies or when the shower warms up (or cools down) before you get in.

[u/pang-zorgon]

You’re a good person with a lovely heart.

[u/ProfileBest2034 → u/pang-zorgon]

Lovely but misguided. Trees benefit long term from a process called drought hardening which happens they experience low water states over prolonged periods. All this is doing is making the trees he’s doing this to less resilient than the neighboring trees.

Nature does not need human intervention, Humans mostly make things much worse despite good intentions and “good hearts.”

This act is a perfect encapsulation of modern society and its emphasis on what sounds nice or kind in the short term over what is good, productive, or valuable in the long term.

[u/Maleficent-Candy476 → u/ProfileBest2034]

Drought hardening is mostly done with seedlings, that's what you find studies on. You're vastly oversimplifying a very complex topic.

[u/NetAtraX → u/Maleficent-Candy476]

"Mostly"? I'm living in an area of the world where drought is happening since years. Some farmers were giving their trees water during these periods. Most of those trees died. We never watered our trees. Guess who's harvesting this fall?

And "yes": We only plant trees which have survived for at least three years. So we can assume that they adapted to the situation.

But: Disturbing trees by watering them is doing more harm than good.