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TIL that a mature oak tree can drink over 50 gallons of water a day in the summer

I was reading an old arborist manual from the 80s that my mentor gave me last month. It had this chart about tree water uptake and I almost dropped my coffee when I saw that number for oaks. I always knew they were thirsty trees but 50 gallons sounds like a whole swimming pool every couple weeks. Has anyone else run into old facts like this that totally changed how you think about a species?

3 comments

3 Comments

jason_stone2mo ago

My neighbor's old oak easily drains his garden hose for hours in July.

milesrobinson2mo ago

@jason_stone you sure it's really that bad? I've seen oaks drink up water fast too but hours seems like a stretch unless he's got some kind of giant sinkhole situation going on. Maybe check if his soil's just super dry and cracking, a good rain usually sorts that out quick.

brooke_nguyen652mo ago

Oh wow, guess that oak's got a side hustle as a plumber now... must be charging by the hour for all that water it's moving.