Watering Plants in Hot Weather
Since it’s going to be another 90 degree day in New Jersey today, on this first day of summer, I thought it might be appropriate to talk about getting our plants through the lazy, hazy, hot days of summer.
First the lazy, hazy, hot days of summer are actually less stressful than the plain old hot and dry days. Those days just suck the moisture right out of the plants, planters or ground.
So, what to do? Well, the best thing to do is water daily, preferably in the early morning when it’s still cool out. You want to give your plants a lot of water to carry them through the grueling hours of hot sun. If you can’t water in the early morning, then do so in the evening. Evening watering can increase powdery mildew and diseases if plants are too wet and the nights have high humidity, though.
Watering can mean different things to different people. My rule of thumb is to water planters thoroughly till the water runs out of the bottom of the planter. Never BLAST your plants with a jet stream of water, but rather use the shower spray of the hose nozzle or a watering can so that the water goes on the plants gently, not like the rushing of Niagara Falls.
Also, if you don’t adequately water the pots to the bottom, you encourage shallow roots which can be more stressful for plants in longer dryspells. These can occur if you happen to go away and your plant waterer doesn’t quite get the hang of the whole process.
Water beds thoroughly in the same manner. A brief shower with the hose is typically not enough. You want to make sure you saturate each plant and the surrounding areas of the bed. Just watering the plant won’t quite do it since the dry spots in the bed will just wick up the water and suck it right out of the plants you just so carefully watered.
So, WATER, WATER, WATER but only when your beds or planters are dry or nearly dry. Overwatering hurts too though and probably kills more plants than underwatering. Also, make sure your planters have drainage holes and never let your plants sit in water.
Follow my advice and I promise you’ll have gorgeous looking plants all through the hot days of summer.
