Didn't mean for the subject line to rhyme like it does.
Anyways...for weeks now I water my plants. Sometimes daily, sometimes every other day, but always careful not to overwater. They grow grudgingly. Then it rains. All of a sudden I'm seeing new leaves pop up in a day. I'm not kidding. Some of my cucumber plants grew inches overnight!
So how is it that the plants respond to the rain like that but not to watering? At one point I thought I was overwatering my cukes...which might explain for the yellowing of their outer leaves and yet they get healthier during an all night soaking? I'm baffled.
Miracles of rain...can anyone explain?
Rainwater is definitely better for plants because it doesn't have all the chlorine, etc that's in tap water, but I don't think you would notice a difference overnight like that. My theory is either 1) plants need to sit back and get established for a little while before they really take off growing, so it could be a total coincidence that they happened to start growing right after the rain, or 2) if it's been very hot in your area, the plants may not have been doing much growing because of that, and if the rain cooled things off then they might have started to grow all of a sudden. Or 3) maybe you weren't watering them enough--based on your description of how often you watered I don't think that's the case, but if you have them in a really warm spot where they dry out really quick that could be possible too.
unless you stand there and really drown the plants with your hose, you never can water as thoroughly as a good rain. Most of us get tired of watering before we have actually finished the job as far as the plants are concerned.
Martha
I water with well (no chlorine) water and rain water from rain barrels. I agree it is magic from above when it rains....Thank heavens the Lord takes care of the weather instead of the politicians! pod
This message was edited Jun 25, 2006 8:49 PM
Oh Pod .... lol ... thats funny! I feel the same way about the rain, it seem leaves start shooting up from no where.
I have heard many times before that rainwater contains nitrogen. I have no idea if it is true, however, each time it rains here in so cal the plants just glow with health, much more than when I just water from the hose. Since nitrogen helps the plant stay green, I wonder if the nitrogen thing is true. Anybody out there know the facts?
One thing rain brings is a lot more humidity and cooler temps for a brief spell. I wonder if this might be a pick me up for the plants? I guess acid rain isn't mentioned too much anymore?
My boss told me the same thing about nitrogen in rain. He grew up growing vegetables since his dad was a veggie farmer for decades. I always thought it was because when its a slow soaking rain, then the roots get a long, slow drink. Better than when we douse them with water for a few minutes.
I believe that too Happytrail.. it rained this evening and everything look so fresh and pretty... I love it.
This message was edited Jul 5, 2006 8:55 PM
Acid rain is high in ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) and nitric acid (HNO3). The more polluted the air, the more fertilizer the plants recieve during a rainfall -- not necessarily a good thing. (FYI: http://www.ec.gc.ca/acidrain/)
Heavenlybubbles what an interesting link. not that I understand whats totally happening there. It seems that US got more pollution in its air, but Canada appears to be the one in trouble with the acid rain. If I am not making sense, just ignore me.:)
Anyway it been raining every night and all day today and my Hostas are beautiful ... and so will my water bill. :)
Sylvia
If you receive your rain along with thunder and lightening, the lightening releases nitrogen in the soil making it more readily available for the plants. We have lots of summer thunderstorms here in Minnesota, and our yards always green up really fast after our first spring storm with lightening.
I just think that its Gods Plan Paul
It just started raining as I started reading. I am so thankful as I just planted two new plants a couple of hours ago. Its thundering and lighting and I need all the Nitrogen I can get. :) God is good!
Sylvia.