Everything's Wilting!

We've had temps in excess of 100º for the past week, at least. Prior to that we had temps in the upper 90s. Most of my veggies are really stressed, eventhough I'm watering them more frequently and feeding them regularly. It's quite depressing to see everything so perky when I leave for work, but then dead looking when I get home. My poor zucchini is the worst! Even the cantaloupes (muskmelon) get weepy in the heat, which starts at around 11AM. For those of you in hot weather, is this normal? Is the weeping the plants coping mechanism for the heat?

I don't know how you are watering but I was watering by hand. I thought I was really soaking the bed but my cantalopes in particular kept looking worse and worse (all in raised beds). Started putting my lawn sprinker on the beds and letting it run for a couple of hours. Watered slower and deeper that way and things picked up. Only thing you waste a lot of water. I am looking at drip irragation for peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and squash for next year. Going to use some type of mist system for cantalopes. Our temp has been 100 for the past 30 days.

I turn the hose on at night after dark at a slow drip. then I turn it off in the am before the sun comes up... I am having the hot temps too and when I went on vacation my garden suffered cause the person taking care of it did not water it enough... I am hoping the garden comes around, and the TLC I have given it for the last week has produces some more blooms and some more fruit...

We water deeply every couple of days. Things are nice and perky in the morning and in the evening after the sun is not directly overhead. I think we're going to invest in a couple more soaker hoses today! LOL

I had more success out of the small soaker hoses when I could find them. They are about as big around as your finger and the fittings just shove on. You can cut them any length. Only thing is I haven't been able to find them for the past couple of years. I don't really care for the half in. soaker hose.

Jim - Isn't that a drip hose, not soaker hose?

At DripWorks.com they have a nifty 'tape' system that I covet for a veggie garden. Saw it last year and wanted to buy it for this year's garden, but everything is in pots this year. When I can afford to have the gopher terminator and squirrel terminator come in (or move), I would like to try that.

Lynda

No, this was regular soaker hose. It was larger than the drip I've seen, but about half size the regular soaker. You had to have a pressure adapter on your faucet to use it. Very low pressure. Wal Mart used to carry all that stuff and the fittings. You could run several lines off onne faucet. Can't find any drip stuff locally. The Net had advertisement from Home Depot. Thats the only place I haven't checked. On tat for next week.

Stephanie.... I feel your pain with all this heat. ugh. My garden is a mess right now...weeds, squash borers, wilting....and it's just TOO DANG HOT to even walk outside let alone work in the garden.

Jann

All of the suggestions on deep and slow watering are good. Drip irrigation is a great idea for TX and all hot states like NC where I am but you have to invest in the equipment and it isnt particularly cheap.
Watering at night is not a good idea because it can encourage diseases, particularly in hot weather. No one mentioned MULCH........this does a lot to prevent water loss and evens out water availability for a longer time after you water.

For squash vine borer mentioned in one of the posts, in NC and probably elsewhere we are told to plant in mid June after the borer larvae have matured. Also, I read on the internet that squash vine borers PREFER Hubbard squash over other varieties.........I planted some this year as sacrifice plants and so far no borers to contend with to evaluate the Hubbard theory......we'll see.

I second the mulch suggestion! We typically get at least 95 to 100 degree temps here too and I always heavily mulch all of my veggies with wheat straw (just my personal choice). RonS it right--it really helps conserve water so the garden can withstand the heat better. And at the end of the garden season, we disk it in so it will help feed the soil for the next year.

We have 4"-5" of mulch on all our beds. We water slowly and deeply. We have added lots and lots and LOTS of organic matter to our soil. Everything looks great in the morning and in the evening, it's just that hot, HOT sun during the middle of the day that's so hard on it. I think my DH is going to put up some shade cloth to see if that helps.

Watching plants is like watching teenagers ... you so want them to live up to their potential.
I tried something different this summer and I'm amazed by the results. I dug trenches -- about 2 1/2' d x 2 1/2' w and filled them with a mixture of peat, compost, and cow manure. I added my plants and then covered the trenches with wet newspaper followed by soil and pine straw. (I left about 2" between plants and mulch.) Temps here in Florida have ranged from 90-100+ deg.F and the plants look as perky as ever. Unless it rains, they are only receiving 1" of water, 2 times a week. Other plants I'd put in earlier in the season using traditional methods look terrible. Some have even died.
The extra work up front is definitely paying off in less watering, weeding & in healthier plants.
Now I can go back to fretting about my teenager.

Barbara Barker
Author, Container Gardening for Health: The 12 Most Important Fruits and Vegetables for Your Organic Garden

Quiltygirl, I wonder if our definition of drip and soaker are different. When I say soaker, I am referringing to the pourous type hose that you let sweat. Just clearing that up. My cukes, squash, tomatoes and cantalopes continue to bear like crazy in this heat. It mystifies me how it does it. Just blessed.

All the watering in the world will not prevent wilting of cucumbers, squash, etc. which are exposed to direct sun on 100+ degree days. It is a protective mechanism that the plants are using to try to survive.

My suggestion would be row cover suspended over the plants to reduce the sunlight by 30-40%.

Alternately, if you have access to Surround [TM], which is an inert powdered kaolin clay, mix up a batch and spray your plants thickly. It will act as a sunblock, preventing about half the sunlight from getting through.

This is why I have heard recommendations of growing cucumbers in containers in S.E. Texas. Start the container out in the middle of the yard, getting maximum sunlight, and as it gets hotter, move the container closer to the house to reduce the sunlight, until eventually by late June to July, the pot is right next to the house, protecting the plants from all but morning sun.

I think the shade cloth the husband will provide about 50% shade or even more. I think we're gonna call it quits with the zuke, though.

Jim
I guess when you said the hose was the size of your finger and spoke of the 1/4" & 1/2" fittings and stuff it sounded like drop. I have an unused one from walmart since stuff is in pots
Lynda

I found a great site for drip irrigation stuff late one night. Put in my favorites to go back and look and can't find where my favorites are on this new lap top.

Want to look at some pretty pictures of my yard and garden Lynda? Email me at jimgoodman1@hotmail.com. Got them uploaded to Kodac Share an on line site.

Shade is a big key. When I moved on to my last church field several years ago, I had some elm saplings sprout down the side where I used to garden. I just left them. When we moved back home a couple of years ago I thinned them down to 5 or 6. They cast a nice evening shade over my raised beds. I planted running string beans down the west side of one of my beds and planted my squash in cages the other side and bunch butter beans the other side of the squash. After the string beans quit bearing I left them to shade my squash. Even in this 100 plus head we have been having my squash have never wilted and have now put on secondary growth and are bearing more than they have all year. I pulled up the bunch beans after the second picking and replanted with some of the dried beans. They are up and about 6 inchs high already. I hope they will hold off blooming until the heat breaks. Don't know if they can pollinate with it so hot even with the afternoon shade.

Thanks Jim, you had sent that sight when you sent the recipe. I was only just looking at it this AM and what a great spread you have. You should label some of the photos to identify the flowers. Even with your heat, everything is so green, but then again I remember seeing Jan, Feb dates. You are in Louisiana? So normally mild winters. Is that corn or what growing behind you? Good job on your yard - what size is it, looks like a lot to tend to.

quiltygirl, we are sitting on an acre more or less.. You have to ignore the dates on some of the photos. Battery went down and didn't know to reset date. Never read instructions is my motto. March is about the earliest photos, probably starting with the English Dogwood. I was going to caption them but got side tracked. Yes that is corn behind my house. Beautiful isn't it. With cotton prices down our farmers have started growing more corn, wheat and soybeans. Use to never see corn except for small fields to feed livestock. The guy that farms that field probably has at least 3 or 4 thousand acres of corn this year. As far as tending the yard, it is not as bad as it seems. Once you get things right in the spring, the maintenance is not bad. I clean around all the trees and beds with a hoe, then mulch. Think I used 175, 3 yard bags this year. I then spray about an inch barrier around everything with RoundUp. Very low pressure. This keeps the St Augustine from running into the beds. After that it is just a matter of keeping a weekly watch. I'm nuts but I lime and fertilize my yard. Have to mow 2 times a week. The men in Louisiana either hunt or fish, I don't do either one. I'd rather work in the yard and garden. Give my wife credit for the flower beds. She decides what to plant and I help. She apparently has a real eye for color every turned out great. The garden is all mine.

Goodness, 175 bags of mulch! Couldn't that be delivered in bulk by truck? Do you let your cut grass stay as mulch or do you drag it out for compost? Your spans of grass is lovely and would be a treat to our green deprived eyes, but to have an acre of it here with no rain Apr-Nov, plus fighting critters and weeds seems like throwing resources down the drain. In this semi desert area drought resistant ground cover (ie rocks and dg, lol) are good filler between plants.

Where I buy the mulch they don't deliver, so I had to pick it up. I like the pine bark mulch best because it decomposes and adds to the beds. Some of the beds it is impossible to get anything under the plants because of the way they hug the ground and also the bulk of our planting is perennial. Bedding plants just got to high to replant twice a year. I like to use the mulch around the perimiter of the beds just to make them look dressier. I dribble Round Up at low pressure around the edge of the mulch to burn the St. Augustine off or it would take over. I fertilied my yard last year with 200 pounds of 13-13-13. This spring I came back with 200 pounds of pelletized lime and put 20 pounds of 8x8x8 to get it started. I don't mow real close and use a blade that is called a gator blade. Chops the grass extra fine and I leave all clippings on the yard. Chopped fine they work right down. I've seen some yards ruined because the folks bagged all the clippings. I do the same in the winter with leaves. I usually mow twice a week. Mainly that is because I personally like the fresh mowed look. We usually get a good deal of rain but this year it turned hot and dry in June. Our temps have been running about 100. My front and side yard get the benefit of my watering the flowers which has kept it green although the growth slowed way down. Everyone just has to make the best of the conditions of where they live. We don't have much of a varmint problem. The worst thing we have occasionly is an armillodilla. I hope you don't have those things. They can root up more in a night than you can replant the next day. They drove us up the wall last year. Haven't had one this year. Got my live trap ready just in case and learned how to catch the buggers last year so I am ahead of the game. Boy, I am one wordy son of a gun. Bye