Hello Y’all. I have been a member of TH as a host and sitter for two years. Overall a great experience. I am writing for empathy and advice for future hosting / sits. We just arrived home after 3 weeks away. We had a repeat sitter who sits full time and takes great care of our home and pets. She is local, so each time before a sit she comes over for a walk through. This time we had had a new tree planted a couple months ago. We are in Texas and in the Summer trees need water. Most of our yard is native plants and can survive under or over watering. We asked our sitter to water the tree for 10 minutes every 3-4 days if there was no rain and lots of heat. Long story short, she left the hose running on the tree for hours by mistake. The tree started wilting and she guessed it needed more water, so she kept watering it more. She didn’t contact us about the tree wilting. Well, we arrived home and I believe it is now dead. Maybe it can be revived by an arborist. It was very expensive to buy and plant ( it had replaced a shade tree). I have had good text conversations with the sitter. She said “yeah, I don’t know trees”. I know she is a caring and concious sitter. I asked her, how I could have communicated the tree care better and reminded her that we like to hear about anything seeming off, so we can try to remedy from afar. I know tree care is above and beyond regular Housesit duties. I found out our premium membership does not cover trees, plants and money. Next time we have an expensive, new tree or plant I will hire an extra person just to care for it. Our usual garden is all natives and easy even if neglected. It’s difficult to save a couple thousand dollars by having TH, but lose a couple thousand on a tree. I definitely did not protect my tree / shade investment enough. Any empathy and advice appreciated. Also writing just to help folks add tree awareness to their host lists.
@jollyfolks, gosh what an unfortunate situation.
During on-site handover with Pet Parents then we always ask ‘is there anything that you’re concerned about, say re property or pets?’. It is amazing how often a Pet Parent replies … ‘well there is this one thing …..’ … could be an appliance that is failing/broken, or a property maintenance issue, or details of cleaner/gardener/staff visits, or recent pet medical issue, all sorts. We find this really helps us to identify such issues and to set specific communication protocols.
Your situation sounds very unfortunate indeed. Noted that the tree was “very expensive to buy and plant”. Also noted that housesitter self-assessed that “I don’t know trees”. How much did tree care feature in housesitter video call, selection process and welcome guide? If concerned about tree, did you proactively ask about the tree during the housesit?
Really sorry for your loss. Expensive. Appears a terrible and unfortunate accident rather than purposeful harm by housesitter.
A potential generic lesson may be that if a specific topic is important to a Pet Parent then include that topic in due diligence; provide detailed info in Welcome Guide; and have explicit communications about the topic during housesit.
Ah man, I actually feel sorry for both you and the sitter! For a non-tree person (probably 95% of all sitters) this could happen so easily - forgetting to turn off the tap, and then keep watering a wilting tree in the coming days.
I see two parts: Initially she made a mistake (overwatering by accident). But then she didn’t follow orders (watered every day instead of every 3-4 days).
You have my sympathy, but I doubt there’s much you can do about the situation. It’s an expensive mistake, unfortunately, and I feel for you.
An unfortunate outcome. Expensive, too. My sympathies.
Once, I did a sit with a conservatory full of plants, plus the hosts had some seedlings in a separate, small greenhouse. He asked about the seedlings a couple of times, probably as a polite reminder. I didn’t need reminding, but it was a good idea, because someone not used to plant care might’ve forgotten. That’s probably what you could do in future if you have an unusual plant or tree to protect. My host messaged something like, how are the seedlings doing? That was a friendly, not bossy, way to handle it.
I feel for you. I have done the exact same thing with my very expensive new hedge some years ago.
As this is a voluntary petsitting site with mutual exchanges between fellow members I think it is good advice - if it is about protecting valuables - like a very expensive tree - it could be better to leave it to professionals or setting up an automatic watering system.
Sure a sitter might be nice and want to accommodate etc., but watering plants is a specialised skill. Just the difference between feeling the soil and calling it «dry», while another person would stick a finger in same soil and calling it «wet». Even for the main task - petsitting - it is limits to what one can expect of unpaid volunteers.
Sorry about your tree. Hope it recovers (my hedge had to be replaced). Thank you for raising the issue - it is useful for our THS community.
Yes, unfortunately both overwatering and underwatering kill the feeder roots, and the tree will display the same symptoms in both cases.
I’d be devastated, but wouldn’t blame the sitter.
I think your plan going forward is a good one I.e. get an expert in. We have one repeat sit where we look after 6 cats in a rural area - all different personalities, indoor/outdoor cats, daily hunting gifts, daily de-ticking. Lots of responsibility but it’s the polytunnel that gives me the most stress. I follow the instructions to the letter but still it’s a worry as I’m not a natural gardener. the HO knows this but chose us on our animal care skills. They are pretty laid back about the garden but it still fills me with fear. I’d have to say though if I was unsure about a particular plant or routine I would ask for advice - better safe than sorry.
We did a sit awhile back with an extensive garden and lots of pots inside and out. Heatwave conditions. One afternoon a potted standard fuschia looked frizzled. It had been watered that morning. We watered again and moved to a more sheltered position. Checked on it regularly. It was still alive so we are hopeful it will come back ok, but it certainly looked dreadful when HO returned.
I can tell you that sitter will be feeling dreadful. Such a shame all around.
I think sadly we’re going to see an increase in instances like this as climates become more extreme, and for this reason it’s great that in the future you’re planning on having a professional tend to garden care. I think this is always the best option if HO’s have gardens that need a little extra vigilance and expertise as although these responsibilities can be handled by sitters, the main thing for them is the pets, and not everyone understands plants. So if a garden has some really expensive features let the professionals handle it 
I think you just have to be explicit if you are expecting a sitter to water a new tree or other fragile plants. I was on a recent sit where there was a lot of watering involved. Blueberry bushes that had to be water every 3 days. And other watering, though most of the plants on the property were on a drip system. It was complicated – because they were not mine, didn’t know the climate and effect on watering. I think if you have complicated watering, then you have a measuring can, you and you state how much and when. I am in the desert now, Las Vegas, and I have to water the outdoor plants in the back every morning. Not sure how much, but I water.
My mom pays for a lady to stay at her house to sit her two cats. She feels it’s necessary because she also has a beautiful garden with bird feeders and bird baths that need tending. For sure she’d have explicit directions for any plant that’d need more tlc than normal. Seems like the sitter and she agree on these details before the sit begins. Still, it would have been the reasonable thing to do for your sitter to have called you once she realized she’d left the hose on overnight! I’m so sorry for the loss of your tree.
Thank you for the empathy 
We did do a walk through including the new tree watering. The comment of “I don’t know trees” was after the sit. A day later, I have had some good text chats with our sitter. I asked how I could have set things up better and I assured her that we think she is a great sitter. I asked in the future to be told if anything seems off or a task too big. She doesn’t like to bug peoole too much and sincerely tried to remedy the tree. I told her, I know diagnosis and specialist care is for experts, not her responsibility. If I had known the tree was looking bad, I would have called a tree person from the road. I have called some now, and there is a chance it can be saved! I do not think the tree distress is entirely the sitters fault- and if it is, then we left too big of a task for her. I am over my first grief / shock at the state of the tree. I have hope it might be saved. I trust our sitter did everything in good faith. I have learned that it’s best to have separate yard help if there is anything needing extra care. Especially when we are gone for a long sit. Still leaving the discussion here, to highlight attention to details and trees.
Yes, I totally should have checked in about not just our pets, but the tree. I learned a lot. I have had some good text chats with our sitter after my initial grief / shock at the dying tree. I do believe she did try to remedy the tree more- but calling us would have been best. She didn’t want to bug us, but I told her - we live to be bugged if anything is amiss! I am sure it’s not entirely her fault, if any. There may be drainage issues or disease. The only real mistake was not contacting us. And I should have checked in about something so valuable. There is a chance the tree will live! I have arborists coming this week.
All good points! Yes, we had a pre meeting about the tree, but I shoulda set up a neighbor or tree folks to attend to it. I have had good text chats with the sitter. She didn’t want to bug us and admitted after the fact that she doesn’t really know trees. I am learning lessons as a host and sitter. I have a wild, native garden that I care for. But if a host had very special plant care needed, I would be the sitter that admitted that is not my strength. I told our sitter that I know she did her best and I could totally have been the person struggling with a tree. It could have already been struggling before we left. I have an arborist coming this week!
Good information. Yes, I realize I left too big of a task that went beyond pet and house care. After my initial shock, I have had good text chats with our sitter. We both learned that tree care is too much to ask for. I have an arborist coming this week! Maybe it will be saved. I am leaving the post up ( trying to edit it ), just to highlight trees and setting up outside tree care if needed.
I agree. After my first tree grief, I had more text chats with our sitter. I told her I know she did her best in good faith. The only mistake really was not telling us when it looked terrible. But even that goes beyond regular home and pet care. I emphasized how great our pets and house looked upon return and that we would love to have her again. And that I would get separate yard care for special tasks. I am a sitter as well as host. I could have easily been in her position.
Very good points. I do see this was above and beyond normal care. The rest of my garden is natives and herbs, that are very hardy and bounce back even if left alone. I have told the sitter I know this was too big of a task and she did a terrific job overall. Leaving the discussion here, because I learned a lot from the experience and the feedback here.
You can mark this thread as solved 
@jollyfolks I understand your sitter was trying to be helpful by taking on the responsibility of tending to your tree but they should have been upfront and honest with you about their lack of experience. They should have said outright - I would love to help but I know absolutely nothing about tending to trees. Part of being a good sitter is being honest and making sure our skill set align with the responsibilities of the sit.
@kimshady You are putting the responsibility fully on the sitter which I disagree with. It is the responsibility of the owner to explain carefully their requirements and, in the case of this tree, any special needs. The sitter is not a tree person and it sounds like she was only told about the watering schedule and not about the value and delicacy of this new tree. The only mistake I feel she made was that she did not immediately inform the host about leaving the water running and then tried to deal with the consequences herself without guidance. But even then she was trying to take responsibility and not bother the hosts unduly. It sounds like she was, in all other ways, a great sitter.
My sympathies go to both sides and this is certainly a learning curve. It sounds like the hosts are being stoic about it and see how they could have done things differently.
It’s clear that any special duties beyond standard house, pet, garden care should be delegated to professionals so that all parties can relax. The exception would be if the sitter has expertise in the relevant area and is willing to do the extra task e.g using a drive-on lawnmower to mow a very large garden.