22/06/2026
"It's only the new plants that need watering in a heatwave."
Not quite. Your big, established trees feel it too. You just can't see it as fast.
There's a heatwave forecast for the south east this weekend. Here's what a hot, dry spell actually does to a mature tree.
The leaves go first. Edges turn brown and crispy, like they've been scorched. Some trees drop leaves early to cut their losses, so you get a patch of "autumn" in June. The crown thins. On the sunniest side, whole sections can look pale and tired.
None of that means the tree is dying. It means it's stressed. And a stressed tree is a weaker tree, more prone to pests, disease, and shedding limbs it would normally hold onto.
The bit most people don't know. A mature tree's roots spread far wider than its branches, and most of the fine feeding roots sit in the top foot of soil, exactly where the ground dries out first. A quick splash from the hose does almost nothing. If a valued tree is genuinely struggling, what it wants is a slow, deep soak every week or so, not a daily sprinkle.
If you've got a tree you'd hate to lose and it's looking rough in the heat, it's worth having someone take a proper look rather than guess.
Hot weather rarely kills a healthy mature tree. It just shows you which ones were already struggling.
