Tips on Water Absorption for Flowers & Shurbs ?

Hi,

I live in Atlanta and have a variety of plants & flowers in my yard (azaleas, hostas, evergreens, japan red maple, dogwood trees, butterfly bushes, ivy, ferns, and annuals (in pots).

Its hot and very dry this spring here and I am trying my best to get water to all the plants in the yard so they do not dry up.

Do you have to get water to the roots on ALL plants to help them, or are there a variety of plants that will soak up water if sprayed via the leafs only?

Its hard to soak all the plants to get water down to the roots so I've been trying to at least spray water on the leaves to help. It may not help at all, and if anything just cooling the plant down maybe?

The azaleas and annuals seem to take the worst beating so I do try to soak them well but it seems after a long day of heat they are wilting just 24 hours after being soaked well.

It would be nice to know if there are certain plants that can absorb water via the leaves only (e.g. evergreens?).

Thanks

Potted plants suffer horribly from lack of water, there is no rescue for them. Are the plants in the shade? Many of the ones you mentioned like full shade.

It sounds like you're applying multiple applications of shallow waterings. No, watering the leaves doesn't help much, in fact it's a bad idea wet leaves is how a plant gets any number of fungus problems.

Roots go where the water is, and if you only water so the top 1" or so gets moisture all the roots will be in that top 1" of surface which dries out quickly and will need to be watered constantly. If you water them deeply, the roots will go deep after it and have much better drought tolerance and need less watering as their roots will be deep and not at the surface that dries quickly. Plants shouldn't need much more than 1" of watering once a week when established. I only water mine when absolutely necessary and when I do, I water heavily.

Here's some tips http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1994/6-8-1994/hohright.html

might I suggest a sprinkler? If you stand there and water, you are only going to wet the surface of the soil, only to have the sun rob it before the plants get to use it. I usually put out my sprinkler and leave it for an hour or more at a time. I water the lawn and the flowers at the same time. And a plant will only absorb water through its roots. by wetting the leaves, you may postpone transpiration, (how the plants sweat) but, not help in the long run, as Marshmellow said, invite fungus. Baest bet is to water in the morning so plants can absorbit before the sun steals it and the plants won't stay wet for a long period as the sun will dry the water up.

We have water restrictions due to the drought here and what I do is to place shallow plates/saucers under the pots and then water the
soil only ..until you see the plate or saucer fill.An Hour or two later I go check and usually the water is gone but if not, I tip out the rest...
If the conditions are very hot and dry I use pebbles as a "mulch" and have never lost a plant yet.If a plant looks to be in severe distress plonk the whole thing gently into a bucket of water (a few drops of seaweed concentrate in it will help).Of course remember to put the pots in the correct places for their comfort zone .Always learn where they like to be ie sun or shade...even though some labels say sun ...if the sun is too fierce...a plant will appreciate some afternoon dappled shelter.Good luck!

Everything said above is the best,and propper advice, the pots dont hold a lot of soil, so it will act like a sponge and soak up whatever water you give, however as there aint that much soil, the plants are really only just getting a sip, I sugest that you place your pots in the shadeiest area of your Garden, I always water my garden and pots in the evening after the heat has gone from the sun, the pots and soil start to cool down a bit and therefore when you water, there is less evapouration,AND the roots have a longer period to soak up the water before next day's heat, Do you have an old childrens paddle pool, I sometimes have to fill one up and sit my plants in the water inside the pool overnight so they can draw in as much water as they need, in the morning, I lift them out and let them drain, you should be watering your pots everyday in your heat as they will be dehydrating so fast that they will get deseases and fungus gowing that they will suffer even more, these things only damage plants that are already under stress, allthe plant you describe are shade loving plants with the exeption of the butterfly bush whick loves sun but not like an oven. maybe you need to put them into much larger pots to give them room at the roots and plenty more soil. Hope this helps.

Crissy in Australia, I know here in UK we also suffer drought, and a lot of people end up useing their bath water after useing the bath, so that the plants get some water, it has been proved NOT to harm the plants in any way, maybe you could try this, good luck, WeeNel.

I use to have a wash tub next to my washer. I would let the washer dump the rinse water in it and had a sump pump pump it into the yard. I had the greenest yard around when everyone else's was dried up. If you can it would really make a difference. I think the phosphates in the water helped.

Loren

Thanks for all the insight! So I now know I have to deep water to get to the roots and spraying the leaves does little! I'll take the nozzel of the hose and direct it a 1/2 inch at the root base and let it soak in good. Most plants are in the shade so that does help, however the azaleas are in the sun and take a beating all day so those I will try to water more often. Part of my problems was I transplanted some plants/bushes shortly before the drought so I'm trying to keep them watered so the roots can kick start.

Hi everyone...and a special big hello to the wonderful garden Guru
WeeNel Yes I have heard about your drought over there...and we have a special set up over here that allows us to use "grey water on the garden.Our highest Summer temp last year in our area was 44 degrees C...so....drought is a huge problem.I water very early or very late .....no grey water on the vegs though! ....another thing,I put all my indoor plants in the shower once a week in Summer and give them a quick ,gentle tepid shower...it works a treat.

another question:
when I water the roots, does it matter if you only soak part of the root or do you have to wet the whole root ball evenly? guess what i'm saying is right now i place the hose tip to the ground on one side of the plant (bush). i would guess that side gets most if not all of the water, however, the oppisite side may not get any water....i'm thinking that any root picking up water will send water to the whole plant thus spearding the water (go go juice) to where it needs it most...but this also means that part of the root system stays dry of course which i think is ok...... or... do certain roots only send water to certain leaves, thus i am wrong in thinking the whole bush will get water to the leaves (to promote growth)? it that is true than in my current situation, i am only helping 1/2 the bush (wet root side) !

andy

I'm now living in an area without water restrictions and I put my sprinkler out about once a week and let it run for about 3 hours at a time. The lawn is fabulous green as a result, my neighbors have stopped me on the street to ask how I did it.

Where there have been water restrictions I have gone out with the hose and watered each precious shrub and perennial. I stood there with the water running over the root zone for a full minute per plant. This is boring so I moved the hose end around so the water went into the full root zone. Big trees have much bigger root zones so I'd count off a full minute for each of 5-6 spots around each tree.

Once you give all your plants a good long soak, by any method, please do them the favor of mulching them. Don't wait until the soil has dried out again, but put 1-4" of mulch right on top of the wet soil. The mulch will keep the water from evaporating, but hold it there for the plant to use. It will also discourage weeds from moving into the damp soil and robbing the plant of moisture. Once the mulch is down you'll find that the plants survive the heat a lot better and you won't have to stand out there as often, hose in hand, muttering "Wonderful, two-derful, three-derful".

Andy,
We're having a very dry spring this year too (gonna be a looong hot summer I'm afraid). Hubby took some of my old soaker hoses and cut them into shorter pieces which he put new fittings on and I lay them around all my shallow-rooted plants so I can give them a good soaking once a week. So far so good--everything is looking good (even my garden).

Hi andyamp, it really is dishartening when you have plants in pots and you watch them wilting, but the truth is, large plants in pots take up more water than if they were in the ground, this is because as stated, there aint a lot of soil and all roots, you really do need to soak the whole pot of soil, not just one side or you will get the dry roots growing upwards to find the water, any chance that you could get shallow trays, WITHOUT holes. stand as many pots into these and as you water the pots, any spillages will go into the trays and the natural gravity of your soil/compost will sucked it back up to the roots, the roots can only take whatever water you give while in pots, so in your heat, you will under water long before you over water just by evaporation alone, the idea to put plenty mulch also applies, you dont water the outside of your pots, you want to get the nozzle into the pot and water as much as you can, outside the pot is like you asking for a drink and getting it on your face instead of your mouth, you should also try to move your Azalias into some shade for the hottest bit of your heat/weather till it cools down if pos as they are kind of dapple shade plants anyway, and in pots they really will struggle, unles they are in half barrels with plenty of mulch. hope this clears up some of the water problems for you and you manage to get the plants through the worst of the hot weather. WeeNel.

I've got a collection of 5-gallon buckets that I've punched a small nail hole in the bottom of. I put one by each tree/shrub in my yard and every evening fill them all up with water. The water slowly drips out over the course of an hour or so, neatly soaking each plant, with minimal effort on my part. Sometimes I add a watersoluble fertilizer to the buckets, they really love that. :)

It doesn't look real pretty - all those buckets sitting around my yard - but in the hottest dryest weather I'd rather keep my plants alive & well than worry about aesthetics!

Wildgardengirl, I have to agree with you about what the containers look like when trying to keep your plants alive, plants cost money, trying to keep them alive costs time so Id do the exact same as you, who cares, Id rather look at yard full of buckets with healthy plant than a yard full of dead plantsinside dried up pot any day, good for you, a girl after my own heart. WeeNel.

Thanks for the compliment, WeeNel! :) I always enjoy your advice. I'll have to post a picture of my bucketed yard one of these days - they are bright yellow buckets with red lids - quite eye catching! LOL