Drought’s impact on trees not immediately visible

From Staff Reports

Terry Paige, the city of Rome’s arborist, said it’s not a good sign that more people aren’t raking leaves already.

“They are holding on to them,” he said of the many deciduous trees stressed by drought in Northwest Georgia. “Some of them (the leaves) are still green. Usually by this time of year there are more leaves on the ground.”

Only 0.02 inches of rain has been recorded in Rome this month and only 0.27 inches has fallen since early September, according to the National Weather Service.

While the trees might still look good, Paige said they are hurting and the proof might not show up for years.

Little rain fell in 2007, the year Rome had to extend a portable pump into the Oostanaula River at Ridge Ferry Park to draw drinking water.

Paige said it was 2010 and 2011 when the death of trees became obvious to the average homeowner.

“Trees don’t show the effects right away,” he said. “Trees that are stressed right now could die in three to five years.”

He said fast-growing trees are the ones that are likely hurting the most, because they need regular watering.

He said a lot of trees planted by landscapers, such as Leyland cypresses and other evergreens, will be stunted or killed during extreme periods of drought.

While watering helps, Paige points that simply sticking a garden hose out there isn’t going to help much because most of that water runs off.

“A fast rain does the trees no good,” he said. “We need slow, steady rain to where we are saying ‘ Man, I will be glad when it quits raining.’”