I’m in Van Nuys (zone 10). We had rain about 3 weeks ago. Since then I’ve watered them twice. I was doing twice a week when it was over 80 degrees but lately it’s been colder. I have 6 of these trees planted and one of them is already showing signs of stress. I just started using a moisture meter to see if they need to be watered and the professional tree guy from the nursery said to water when it’s just starting to read as dry. The ground has been reading as mostly moist/wet, completely wet in the ring of mulch, and bone dry closer to the base of the tree. I read online that the leaves curling like that can mean it’s either being over watered or under watered. Based on the moisture meter I can’t tell which one it is. How do I know which measurement to base my judgement off of? I’m worried because we lost a tree last year from under watering in this same spot and I’ve since been watering it more. Any tips on how to judge this? How long does it take for a tree to bounce back?
For example, if I hold off on watering for a week will I start to see the leaves uncurl as a sign it’s getting better? Or would it take longer than that?