Watering is the single most important and effective weapon in the arsenal to combat the bark beetle. Adequate water to the piñon enables the tree to produce a healthy flow of pitch or resin which, in turn, provides a natural immunity to the beetle. "Sap" is a water solution that moves up in the sapwood. Resin (aka pitch) is a hydrocarbon that is formed in resin ducts within the tissues. It is pitch that "pitches out" beetles and covers wounds, not sap. Sap doesn't drip from cuts, pitch does. However, a well! -hydrated tree has more pressure on its resin canals, giving a better push on the beetles. (Thanks to Ronald Lanner for that explanation....!) At least that is the case in a year of normal or above normal moisture.

In the case of extended drought, the moisture or sap content in any particular tree has dropped significantly each year. Just as a spring will dry up because there is not enough ground water to push the water to the surface, a tree's uptake of water reflects the amount of water in the ground. As the water in the ground drops, so does the water and sap level in a tree drop. During the drought in Northern New Mexico for the past 6 or 7 years, we knew we were in drought conditions but didn't realize the extent to which the trees were being stressed because of it. It wasn't until the bark beetle had already established itself in epidemic proportions and killed a significant percentage of trees did we realize the extent of the stress.

Drought is accompanied by higher air temperatures which result in more rapid evaporation. The dry, hot days make the atmosphere absorb the available moisture like a sponge. It is a good idea to water in the early morning, dusk and during the evenings. This allows the trees to siphon the water instead of it dissipating into the air.

We are faced with a "Catch 22" situation. The trees can benefit greatly by supplemental watering but, with the drought causing a water shortage/crisis in just about every aspect of our lives, we have to be particularly conscious of how we go about providing supplemental watering.

In the City of Santa Fe, watering restrictions have been put in place that limit the amount of water that can be used and how often. There is also a premium cost associated with over use, encouraging conservation. This means that we have to be more conscious about how we water...

As with everything else associated with this "battle", there are almost as many differing opinions about the best ways to water as there are "experts". The method you choose will depend on your water source and the number of trees that you have.

If you have only a few trees, it might be practical for you to save your bath water and bail it out using buckets to transfer the water to your trees. It is amazing how much water one can recapture by recycling one's bath water and the water used to wash dishes. If possible, depending on how the plumbing is set up in your home, one can tap into the graywater discharge and run it out to the trees. This is where you have to be careful, though, because the food particles contained in gray water can cause the gray water to become foul smelling, so you will want to use this method for trees further away from your home. Gray water systems are becoming more sophisticated and scientifically engineered. Consulting with a plumber, graywater specialist, or permaculturist can help out on this one.

Drip Irrigation: Drip irrigation is an efficient and effective way to water your trees, delivering the water to precisely the area that you designate, minimizing the amount of evaporation into the air. Drip irrigation is relatively inexpensive to implement. In Santa Fe, supplies can be purchased at The Firebird or Home Depot. Targeting the circumfrence of the tree, out around the area known as the "drip line", this provides a form of deep watering. The drip line is the area defined by the outer reaches of the branches making up the circumference of the tree branches and is generally considered the area where the tree gets the most benefit from watering. The water saturates through the surface and feeds the shallow root systems of the piñons.

An increasingly popular method of dealing with the drought is rainwater catchments. These can be as simple as a rain barrel placed under a canale or downspout to as complex as underground cisterns that have the rainwater from the roof piped into the cistern. Pumping systems that pump the water from the cistern into a drip irrigation system or hose are an excellent method for utilising this resource. A huge volume of water runs off a roof that would normally just drain away from the house providing little benefit to the homeowner. There are more and more companies providing these systems as we get further into the drought. These types of systems are invaluable if you have a large number of trees.

There is a local company (I will find the name and coordinates for it) that promotes the use of heavy plastic bags filled with water that are placed within the dripline of a tree and then allowed to slowly drip their contents to the roots of the tree. This is a form of drip irrigation.

An automatic timer, programmed for these time periods, is ideal. It provides watering during the best time periods and shuts off at a set time, thus conserving water by not having to rely on one's memory to shut off the water. A multiple zone manifold that sends water to different zones is a good idea, too, allowing for the greatest amount of area to be watered overnight or at the other optimum times for a set amount of time.

Use of a sprinkler to water trees that are clumped together can also be an efficient way to water. The shade created by the cluster of trees helps to minimize the evaporation and the fact that the root beds are all intertwined means that you are effectively watering several trees at once.