Windsor's trees 'weakened' with 2016 drought and this year's hot summer

Some much-needed rain is heading for Windsor-Essex this weekend to help alleviate the heat stress trees have undergone this season.

The summer has been fairly hot and dry, pushing some trees "over the edge," said City of Windsor forester Paul Giroux.

"2016 was very significantly hot and dry, and many trees were showing drought-like symptoms. And 2017 was no picnic either," he said. "Trees going into 2018 were already a little bit weakened."

To help their survival, the city has been watering them more frequently, especially those that were planted this spring and last year.

There's also a program where trees that are less than six inches in diameter are mulched.

Giroux said the city is taking care of 1,500 trees this summer.

Earth Day plantings

This year's Earth Day event hosted by Essex Region Conservation Authority required 1,200 volunteers and the authority has been checking on the newly-planted trees once every few months.

Gina Pannunzio, partnerships and outreach co-ordinator at the authority, said there's not much her team will do with trees that are dying.

"The trees that don't make it, we do leave here, and they become sort of perching areas for birds," she said.

However, there is a citizen science monitoring program they are using in order to improve their annual tree planting event.

Signs of struggle

A telltale sign for a tree experiencing some tough times is when the ends of the branches have no leaves on them, according to Giroux.

And if the tree is turning colours or leaves are dropping, that's also a warning sign.

"Any tree should really have dark green foliage at this time," he said.

It's also bad if you can clearly see the veins in the leaves.

If you see some of those signs, it's time to give the tree a good watering.

Giroux said to water it effectively, you should run a slow trickle for at least half an hour once a week.

There is rain in the forecast for Windsor-Essex this weekend, including risk of a thunderstorm on Saturday. On Sunday there's a 30 per cent chance of showers.