When first planting a tree, watering should be carefully monitored. It will take a 2 weeks before the tree learns to take water from the ground around it and will only take water from the root ball so water it:

1. anywhere from daily in the spring,
2. twice daily in the summer,
3. and daily in the fall for 2-3 weeks depending on when you plant

Then you will decrease for the next 2 weeks until you reach the usual watering cycle in that area of the yard.

If you are unsure of what the watering should be, look at a number of factors. Each factor into how much water is needed:

1. Amount of light: Little light and a lot of protection will indicate less water needed and lots of sunlight would indicate the opposite
2. protection: Little light and a lot of protection will indicate less water needed and less protection would indicate the opposite
3. soil type: Clay soil does not drain quickly and sandy soil does. So the watering would be different.
4. drainage: The slope of the yard and type of soil will determine drainage. You want good drainage for most plants, especially evergreens, but you need to test how quickly water drains in each basic location in the yard. The best way to test is, when digging the hole for planting, place the tree or shrub in the hole and fill it partway with dirt so it stands on its own and then fill it with water. Note how long it takes the water to drain away. Quick drainage would indicate more water needed multiple times. Slow drainage is less water.

Other plants in the same location: will compete for water and nutrients from the same area so a balance will be needed depending on how much water each of the plants or trees prefers, for example a Hackberry tree pulls a lot of water and nutrients from the soil around it and can kill the plants growing below it unless a balance for both is made.