It's been a while since many of us have had meaningful rainfall. Warm temperatures and dry winds have to be stressing our perennials, bulbs, fruit, roses, brambles, trees, whatever.
How much to water dormant plants? Fertilizer?
(I do not wish to appear insensitive to those good folks in North Texas who have lost so much.
This is just a gardening question.)
Winter Drought Questions
I water mine about once a week to maybe 10 days, if it hasn't been too hot and windy, more often sometimes, depending on the condition of the soil.
The best thing to do is to check the soil for moisture, and water when needed, as conditions can vary greatly.
Of course I still water my little pots that are dormant but outside every two days, since they dry out very quickly.
I do not use fertilizer ( compost in my case) during the winter, unless I am preparing a new bed and add it as an ammendment to the soil.
I hope that helped.
Josephine.
I still have a lot of potted tropicals outside (no offense to those who have had cold, I can't move these particular pots- rooted into the ground lol) and I water them every few days if they're dry. Some are still growing and blooming, so I really have no choice despite the fact that I would like to stop watering for the water bill. None of my in ground plants have gone completely dormant, and I water them when they start to look dry, just as I would in the spring/summer.
I have also gone ahead and started putting out compost in all the beds. I normally wait to do that, but all of the reseeding annuals are sprouting so I just went ahead with it; hopefully it'll work out.
It has been so mild here so far that nothing has died back as in years past. I too have lots of stuff still blooming- it's pleasantly weird!
I water beds at least once a week - we have a lot of wind and the temps have been high here as well. Those that I have in pots- only some I will move into the house or garage if a freeze is forecast, get watered every 3 or 4 days as they show signs of need.
Generally I do not add fertilizer this time of year because any new growth will be lost with the freeze that I know will come, however, I do use SuperThrive at least once or twice a month when I water the potted plants. I have some plants that are pretty tolerant of the cold and if I feel like taking a walk on the wild side I will add a benign liquid fertilizer once or twice a month- Shultz's is a pretty safe bet.
What does Superthrive do exactly?
Well allegedly it supplies or makes available micronutrients and it's an addition to, not a substitute for, fertilizer.
It helps plants survive stress, etc. I find that it helps my cuttings take, makes my blooms last a little longer, helps plants withstand those times when I ignore them. I use it frequently with potted plants, both in and outside. Also use it w/ plants that I am babying along. I have noticed that it's helped my plants withstand the worst sun/heat of Houston summer.
By it at Walmart or Lowe's, they are cheaper than anybody, $7.00 and change for a 4 oz. bottle, use a drop per gallon or something like that. I took the dropper from my Shultz's house plant fertilzer and replaced the SuperThrive cap w/ it, perfect fit and find myself adding a full dropper to a gallon when I use it- according to Shultz's bottle a full dropper is like 7 or 14 - can't remember which, drops. Don't buy it on line- it is always more expensive, regardless of who sells it.
I think we discussed SuperThrive in the propagation forum, you can probably find it if you do a search.
I have recently started watering my stuff and am going to do keep doing it once a week, or twice if it looks dry. With all the holidays and being so busy I just totally forgot about my plants, since that's what I normally can do. Since not much is green and growing right now, it was my Nandina's that I started seeing signs of needing water and that means they've needed it for a while. :( I have started watering my foundation again too.
I've been out cutting things down and see that a lot of stuff is still green and growing at the base. I've got seeds coming up and bulbs already starting to come up too. Since everything seems to think it's Spring, I'm going to water like it is. I'm afraid everything will die since it doesn't know the difference in season now, just that they're thirsty. I've heard it predicted that we won't get rain here until April!
Are you serious?? No rain till April?? My hardwood floors are already starting to pull apart, even with vases of water sitting around and humidifier going. At least the way it is going, we won't have much in the way of heating bills.
By the way, went by WalMart this morning and they were restocking the seasonal area, and had superthrive for $7.88 (I think).
Sharon
I have been watering things, but not a lot. Plants generally need less water in the winter, while they are dormant, but there hasn't been any rain, so I fugure I can supplement a little. I'm not fertilizing anything yet, but for those plants that are actively growing in spite of the season, I am providing a little more water.
I'm not fertilizing either. I haven't been watering until I saw the Nandina's turning brown. The majority of my stuff died with the first bad freeze but now that it's been so nice it's all starting to grow again, so I think they DON'T know they are dormant! That's why I'm watering them again. Not a lot but my ground will still be like dust even after watering. I think it's going to take a GOOD soaking a few times to retain the moisture up top.
meant to say they DON'T know they are supposed to be dormant...I've been watering my foundation too
This message was edited Jan 11, 2006 10:22 PM
I am having to water my trees and shrubs as well as everything else now including the foundation of my house. My outside pot plants need watered as often as they did in the summer. The perennials arer being watered once a week. If you have St. Augustine grass, be sure to water it every once in awhile if you do not receive any rain.
You know- at least those of us in Houston know, that we are not going to escape the entire winter w/o a freeze; plants that are well dydrated- not soggy and rotting, but hydrated, are more able to with stand a freeze and come out w/ minimal damage.
I'm with you about worrying about the trees.....they are irreplaceable. My hamalia hasn't even been nipped by frost yet and I've never seen it not get nipped down to the ground before! Still have some unaffected fall tomato plants too. I'm not going to cut any of my permanent perennial plants down until late Feb, regardless of what the weather does. But I did get out there and water the entire yard and gardens really well Sunday. And I'm going to keep doing that every Sunday until we do get significant rainfall (its been a month and a half here).
Htop, my trees would have been in so much trouble if it weren't for your advice earlier this year!! Thank you! I've been watering mine regularly too. My neighbors need to thank you too because I'm watching theirs and keeping them alive too. I'm not so sure about the trees on the other side of me tho. That neighbor has dead evergreen bushes now, which isn't a good sign.
Htop, thanks for the reminder about the grass! It's supposed to look brown this time of year, so it doesn't really shout that it's thirsty, but we know it has to be.