Overwatering

Hi! Everybody!!

I am completely perplexed. How is it possible to overwater a plant in triple digit temps? I didn't think that you could but I found out that I had. Does anyone have any similar experiences? Is there a method to determine when a plant can be watered and when it can't be or does this just depend on the plant?

Have a nice weekend!!

Thanks,

Chuck

What kind of plant was it? What is the soil type? These things have something to do with watering. I have done a lot of incorrect things with plants, and still do. There are a lot of variables with gardening, and thats what makes it fun for me.

Dear tigpie,

Thanks for responding so fast to my question. I am sorry it was so long to respond. First of all, it started when I was saving a 5 gallon potted passifloria for a couple of weeks in the container until the weather was cooler. I didn't look at the roots when I transplanted it but the soil surrounding the roots looked really soggy and unhealthy. I paid a good amt of money for this passiflora and I am hoping that by watering more judiciously, I can save this plant. I transplanted it on Tuesday and watered it real good. Then I waited three days (Friday) and watered it again. To be truthful it really doesn't look so good right now. Then I removed my two lavenders (one French, the other Spanish) from the soil so I could try replanting with new lavender plants. The roots on the Spanish Lavender were rotten black. The bottom six inches of the French Lavender were rotten woody stems. Both of these plants wouldn't have lasted much longer. Now I am also trying to save a four year old salvia leucophylla (Purple Sage) that was missing the bottom six inches and has never bloomed. There are other examples but these are the most recent and worst. I have read on the Blueberries in Containers website that the Blueberries outside in containers that for potted plants the best bet is to water 2 inches a week for our area. This is what I am going to shoot for, anyway. The soil in my backyard is hard to ascertain. Part of it is clay, part of it is loam and part of it is real sandy. When they built the houses in our neighborhood, they brought in truckloads and truckloads of soil. I am pretty sure that I have each of the soil types in different places. I hae always added lots of organic compost to the soil in my yards...both back and front. Remember that we had at least a week and maybe three weeks of triple digit sun.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks again for asking,

Chuck

Hi Chuck .. first of all, I'd start taking cuttings .. how is your percolation? Does water stand around after a rain or immediately sink in? The clay is probably the problem. When I moved to virginia I had to make some adjustments to my watering habits because it was mostly clay and the water wouldn't sink in because the clay had turned to hardpan, a situation where the clay bonds together and creates and almost impenetrable layer. When this happens, water can't percolate down properly. Also, clay is very alkaline.

If you are up to it, dig a 1 foot hole and look at the layers in the soil then fill it up with water and see how fast it percolates down. If it takes a long time, over 15 - 20 minutes, you probably have a bad case of hardpan. Keep digging until you find a depth where it percolates down in less than 10 minutes. Where I lived, I had to go about a foot and a half before I got good percolation.

Here is what I did to work around the problem. I'd dig my hole for my plants twice as large as the rootball. If the depth didn't quite reach past the hardpan, I'd dig a little hole, about one inch in diameter to the point where it passed the hardpan. I'd then fill the whole thing up with a slurry, about the consistency of watery oatmeal of a potting mix called ProMix-BX then dunk the rootball into the slurry making sure all the roots were well surrounded and no airbubbles. I'd then let the water drain down and add more ProMix until the hole was filled up.

What this does is give roots a friendly environment to grow into a healthy system for a few weeks until it hits native soil. I still use this method for transplanting anything even though I no longer live in an area with heavy clay soil and get excellent results.

Hi Chuck,
My grandparents use to live in Sun City. I'm 150 miles north of you; 35 miles west of the Mojave Desert, so I know the intense heat.
If you have rotted roots, the soil is not loose enough. Loam soil works best with all my plants.
Perhaps the passiflora was in the container too long and is 'root bound'. If so, after transplanting, it will take longer for the plants roots to reach into the new ground and become established. I would plant in loam soil, shade the plant most of the time until it starts reviving. I use shade cloth or burlap to shelter plants.
I use Dr. Earth organic fertilizer in light frequent doses from a 'tea solution' poured on the leaves, because its 'intravenous feeding'. (don't do that with chemical fertilizers) Vitamin B1 revives plants, too.

With loam soil, it will be easier to keep the plant evenly moist. I use a couple inches of pine needles on top of the soil, which keeps the roots cooler, and slows evaporation.
There is a person on Beginner Garden Forum that is very helpful; Ecrane is the name.
Ann

I have never been on the Beginner's Garden Forum (something I plan on remedying right after this) but I have had a lot of help from ecrane3. He is an expert on gardening and has given me great advice. The first question I am going to ask is where you can get burlap or shade cloth. Can your organic gardening fertilizer 'tea' work with fish emulsion also? I usually try to use this.

Thanks,

Chuck

Yeah fish fertilizer will work as tea. Add enough water to make it about the color of tea. Home Centers or hardware stores carry shade cloth and burlap. Or you may have a piece of cloth around the house, which would work. How is the plant looking?

Dear Tigpie,

I retraced the steps that I took to transplant the three passies and two lavenders. Instead of replacing the soil that I took out of the holes I placed the plants in, I filled it with compost. I just thought that organic compost would be best for the plants. However, when I read all of the ingredients of the compost, it is made up of chicken manure, bat guano, and worm castings. Would this be a factor in the decline of these plants? I went back to each plant and worked peat moss and garden soil back in the plant holes. I will see what this does...

Thanks again,

Chuck

Hi Chuck,
Bat gauno and chicken manure is high in nitrogen (the first number of the three numbers on fertilizer bags), and the plants can't live in straight nitrogen. The worm castings create air pockets in the soil, because roots need some air. I did the same thing when I lived in Glendora, and planted about 15 Jasmine; they all died.
Rodale Publishing has very good books on gardening.
Up here our local dump gives away great soil additive. They chip up all the brush and branches that people bring in for disposal. I think all the dumps do this. Maybe your local dump has free soil additive.
The fish tea won't be good for the plant now, because it is high in nitrogen.

Dear Tigpie,

I waited a couple of days and the large passie (Blue Bouquet) has shown brown leaves but some new growth also. The two P. Victoria look wilted but they are still green and show no brown leaves. Maybe these plants will live. Wouldn't that be nice.

Have a nice Day!!!

Thanks,

Chuck

Dear Tigpie,

Good afternoon!! The Blue Bouqet passie did die off unfortunately. However, one of the p. 'Victoria' has two blooms from a new footlong branch.. Both of the Victoria's (other than that) have not grown or died. These two Passies have curled leaves that they developed about a week after I transplanted them. My plants don't have cats like I thought (from leaves) but instead the passies are blooming A LOT.

The blooms are so beautiful.

I hope everything is well with you and your gardening.

Thanks,

Chuck