Making sure our trees get enough water has been a long-running issue in Berlin. It’s been another dry year ever since February, and as a result the trees on our streets are very thirsty.
As local residents, we can help by watering our street trees once a week. They’ll each need up to 150 litres of water – which is a very large amount and lots of work for just one person. 150 litres is equivalent to around 15 large watering cans or buckets. If you lug that out to the tree outside your front door, it’ll save you a workout. Of course, only very few people have the time and energy to do that, and that’s completely OK.
What will help is if we all work together. If several neighbours team up and each do one to two watering cans’ or buckets’ worth of watering, that’d make things much easier.
So we suggest making Thursday watering day!
You should bear in mind that heavy but infrequent watering is better for street trees. If you water them little and often, their roots will turn towards the surface. That’s not ideal, as the trees should really be absorbing groundwater from deep underground.
The best time to water trees is early in the morning or late in the afternoon, so that less of the water will evaporate. But if watering during the day suits you better, that’s fine too.
The best way to water trees is with a hose. Perhaps there’s an outdoor tap at the back of your block where you can connect one?
Isn’t it all a little expensive?
It costs five cents to fill a ten-litre watering can. Even less if you use an outdoor tap, as then there are no wastewater charges. There are also free streetside groundwater pumps at the junction of Donaustraße and Schönstedtstraße, on Weichselstraße just before Karl-Marx-Straße, on Reuterstraße and on Hobrechtstraße.
What about saving water?
As we all know, in Berlin and Brandenburg we need to be more careful with our water. But that doesn’t mean letting our street trees wither away. You can use leftover water from boiling potatoes or cleaning vegetables, as long as it’s cooled down and doesn’t contain any salt. You can also collect stagnant water, which is the water you leave running in the morning until you get fresh, cold water from the tap again. If you live on the fourth or fifth storey, it can take over a minute until the water finally gets nice and cold. Instead of letting that water go to waste, just pop a bucket under the tap in the morning and use it to water trees.
You can also collect water in the shower while you’re waiting for it to heat up.
But of course the best thing is to collect rainwater. That’s what trees like best.
How can I tell when the trees need watering?
This year, your street trees will almost certainly appreciate extra watering up until October
or November.
Next year, you can check out the traffic light system on soil moisture levels in Neukölln provided by Berlin’s Plant Protection Service. If the graph falls into the red zone, your trees will benefit from some extra watering.
There’s also the handy website Gieß den Kiez, where you can find information on all of Berlin’s public trees as well as on rainfall levels. You can also log how much you’ve watered the trees on your street.
BUND Berlin has compiled lots more handy tips on its Watering Trees campaign page.
As local residents, we can help by watering our street trees once a week. They’ll each need up to 150 litres of water – which is a very large amount and lots of work for just one person. 150 litres is equivalent to around 15 large watering cans or buckets. If you lug that out to the tree outside your front door, it’ll save you a workout. Of course, only very few people have the time and energy to do that, and that’s completely OK.
What will help is if we all work together. If several neighbours team up and each do one to two watering cans’ or buckets’ worth of watering, that’d make things much easier.
So we suggest making Thursday watering day!
You should bear in mind that heavy but infrequent watering is better for street trees. If you water them little and often, their roots will turn towards the surface. That’s not ideal, as the trees should really be absorbing groundwater from deep underground.
The best time to water trees is early in the morning or late in the afternoon, so that less of the water will evaporate. But if watering during the day suits you better, that’s fine too.
The best way to water trees is with a hose. Perhaps there’s an outdoor tap at the back of your block where you can connect one?
Isn’t it all a little expensive?
It costs five cents to fill a ten-litre watering can. Even less if you use an outdoor tap, as then there are no wastewater charges. There are also free streetside groundwater pumps at the junction of Donaustraße and Schönstedtstraße, on Weichselstraße just before Karl-Marx-Straße, on Reuterstraße and on Hobrechtstraße.
What about saving water?
As we all know, in Berlin and Brandenburg we need to be more careful with our water. But that doesn’t mean letting our street trees wither away. You can use leftover water from boiling potatoes or cleaning vegetables, as long as it’s cooled down and doesn’t contain any salt. You can also collect stagnant water, which is the water you leave running in the morning until you get fresh, cold water from the tap again. If you live on the fourth or fifth storey, it can take over a minute until the water finally gets nice and cold. Instead of letting that water go to waste, just pop a bucket under the tap in the morning and use it to water trees.
You can also collect water in the shower while you’re waiting for it to heat up.
But of course the best thing is to collect rainwater. That’s what trees like best.
How can I tell when the trees need watering?
This year, your street trees will almost certainly appreciate extra watering up until October
or November.
Next year, you can check out the traffic light system on soil moisture levels in Neukölln provided by Berlin’s Plant Protection Service. If the graph falls into the red zone, your trees will benefit from some extra watering.
There’s also the handy website Gieß den Kiez, where you can find information on all of Berlin’s public trees as well as on rainfall levels. You can also log how much you’ve watered the trees on your street.
BUND Berlin has compiled lots more handy tips on its Watering Trees campaign page.
