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Otterfan t1_ixt6u1v wrote

Reply to comment by brufleth in What Planting Trees In the Street Could Look Like in Boston: Learning From Other Cities – StreetsblogMASS by me5vvKOa84_bDkYuV2E1

Currently the city asks residents to water the trees. This is most necessary for young trees and during droughts. Mature trees in normal weather will generally get enough water to survive.

Towns with successful urban forests (e.g. Brookline) will make watering new trees a city service, but they still ask for neighbors to help. If you plan on living in a community a long time, it saves money in the long term to water trees. However areas that are poorer or with mostly short-term residents often have a harder time keeping young trees alive.

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brufleth t1_ixt8x4a wrote

I'm talking about the ones in the picture. They're quite large but have almost no exposed dirt above them. So they're relying on roots to ground water. Trees that size struggle in Boston. See the larger trees that regularly fail on beacon Hill or the ones that die regularly in city hall plaza.

Boston actually waters new trees, but not nearly enough. We had a new tree put in out front mid summer. I watered it regularly in addition to Boston's contractor watering it every week or two and managed to get it to survive the dry as hell summer we had. The gallon of dog urine that it gets doused with daily doesn't help things either.

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