Bald cypress, that adapts well to wet sites, also adapts well to dry sites Most trees, and especially urban trees and trees in containers, become stressed when they have a disproportionately small volume of soil for their roots. Reduced soil volume leads to a site that dries rapidly as the root system absorbs moisture, often causing a chronic water deficit for the trees. General signs of water stress include reduced growth, poor flower or fruit production, limp, slightly curled or scorched leaves, and changes in leaf color. Dried or scorched leaf margins on kousa dogwood. Dried tip and needles on an eastern white pine.
Sandy soils tend to drain rapidly making the soil drier than silt loam soils.
Clayey soils tend to have dry to very wet moisture extremes depending on rainfall amounts. Adapting to water deficits To survive prolonged water stress, trees must be able to prevent or reduce water loss from certain tissues. Narrow or spiky leaves of conifers enable them to survive not only the droughts of hot summers but also the cold induced droughts of winter. An extreme form of dealing with water deficits is leaf drop. Some trees adapt to dry conditions by developing massive, spreading roots, or deep roots, either of which can enable the tree to absorb larger volumes of water.