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Although the impact of flooding on homes and other structures is

almost immediate, the effect of flooding on trees is not as immediate in most instances. During the past few days, I received many calls asking about how flooded landscapes will impact the health of trees.

There are several factors to take into account when considering the impact of flood stress on a particular tree. These include: 1) dura-tion of flood, 2) species toler-ance to flooding, 3) age of tree, 4) tree vigor, 5) season, 6) water temperature and oxygen level, and 7) freshwa-ter vs. brackish water.

DurationThe longer tree roots are

exposed to flooding, the greater the potential for injury. The good news is that short periods of flooding dur-ing the growing season can be tolerated by most trees. In fact, with the exception of pines, most trees can withstand 24 to 36 hours of flooding without any long-term problems. However, if flooding is recurrent and keeps the soil saturated or prevents recovery from previous floodings, injuries will accumulate and serious damage may occur.

Species Some species of trees are

better able to adapt to flood-ed conditions. Trees that have evolved in a flood plain ecosystem have mechanisms to cope with the periodic flooding that may occur and are better able to handle flooding. However, urban ar-eas that end up flooded are not usually forested by trees that are adapted to flooding. There are some notable ur-ban exceptions: Arizona ash, green ash, Chinese tallow, hackberry and even silver maple are all considered relatively tolerant to flooding stress. In contrast, pines are all relatively intolerant of flooded conditions.

AgeAdult trees in their prime

tolerate flooding better than overmature trees or seed-lings of the same species. Therefore, some species rated as flood-tolerant may be quite sensitive in the seedling stage. Seedlings often die because they are pushed over, buried in mud, or uprooted.

Vigor Tree vigor at time of flood-

ing has a major influence on tolerance to floods. Vigor-ously growing, healthy trees withstand flooding better than less vigorous trees. Tree vigor may be irrelevant, however, if the tree is totally submerged for an extended period of time.

SeasonFlooding during the grow-

ing season usually is more harmful to woody plants than flooding during the dormant season. The tim-ing of a flood in relation to the stage of growth also can be critical. For example, trees are most susceptible to injury by flooding in early spring just after the first flush of growth. The timing of a spring flood influences species differentiation. For example, since Arizona ash flushes earlier than pecans, an early flood might be more damaging to Arizona ash while a later flood might be more injurious to pecans. The impact of floods caused by Tropical Storm Allison was lessened since trees were well into their active spring growth cycle.

Temperature and oxygen All other factors being the

same, cooler flood water is less injurious to trees than warmer flood water due to the capacity of cooler wa-

ter to hold more dissolved oxygen. Also, rapidly flowing water (with higher oxygen content) is less harmful than stagnant water.

Freshwater vs. brackish waterBrackish means mildly

salty and a common example in our area is when salty wa-ter from the Gulf is pushed inland through freshwater bayous. While brackish water is not nearly as salty as water in the Gulf, most landscape plants are sensi-tive to flooding by brackish water. The severity of salt damage to plants depends upon the amount and dura-tion of exposure, and the salt concentration of the brackish water.

So, what course of action would I recommend regard-ing trees flooded? Of all the possible factors influencing survival rates of landscape trees and shrubs, floodwa-ters containing salt water concerns me most.

Even so, I strongly recom-mend allowing six to eight weeks time before remov-ing a tree to provide suf-ficient time to better gauge the damage sustained and the likelihood of recovery. An important exception to this recommendation involves large trees that are not solidly anchored, or otherwise pose a hazard to home, traffic, play grounds, etc.

For those with a measure

of patience, I suggest wait-ing for spring for the tree to “talk to you” about its “feelings”: Does it have a full complement of leaves? Do the leaves have an overall green as opposed to green with brown-tips?

As can be seen, determin-ing the flood tolerance of a species of tree and the actual impact of a flood on trees in a given area are influenced by a complicated and diverse set of factors. How well a tree copes with flooding

depends upon how vigorous the tree was prior to flooding and how long the flooding occurs. Well-maintained, healthy trees can and usu-ally recover quickly when flooding is relatively short in duration and floodwaters do not contain any salt water from a storm surge.

Dr. William Johnson is a horti-culturist with the Galveston County Extension Office of Texas Cooperative Extension, Texas A&M University. Visit his Web site at http://aggie- horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston.

Floodwaters can affect health of landscape trees, plants

COURTESY PHOTO/Laura Bellmore

Although the impact of flooding on humans is almost immediate, how flooding affects trees is less obvious. Well-maintained, healthy trees can and usually do recover quickly when flooding involves freshwater and is relatively short in duration. However, most trees and other landscape plants are sensitive to floodwaters containing brackish water.

William JohnsonThe Green

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galveston county, texas c5Wednesday, october 1, 2008 the daily neWs