Many gardeners are familiar with the concept of thermic inertia. It’s a fairly intuitive idea: If you leave a cup of cold coffee on your kitchen counter, it will slowly warm to room temperature and stay that way until you add more heat. The same principle applies to a cooler climate like an outdoor kitchen. The colder air around plants slows down their metabolic processes, which keeps them cooler for longer than an open yard or unshaded area under similar conditions. When it gets too hot for your plants, the first thing to check is the moisture level in the soil. Stagnant soils generally have limited water storage capacity; if you see wilting or yellowing of leaves as soon as the air starts warming up, you have probably exhausted much of what your garden can offer before afternoon hits. To get tips on watering your plants effectively without wasting water and keeping humidity at optimal levels, read further.
What’s the Best Way to Water a Plant?
The easiest way to water plants is to water them while they’re growing. This will save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run. It’s important not to get too aggressive with your watering. If you water too often, the plant will develop root rot. Always make sure that the soil is moist, but never soaked.
If you want to give your plants a thorough drink, it may be best to water them as soon as they start wilting or yellowing. To help prevent this, put down a tarp or other screen and cover the pot before watering. If your plants are getting too much sun and are withering away, it’s best to shade them with a piece of plywood or some other type of shaded material until they have regrown again.
You can also give your plants an easy drink once or twice a week by misting them with a spray bottle or hose attachment for your garden hose. Watering by hand is better than using a sprinkler; it allows you to be very careful with how much moisture is being added and when it arrives at the plant’s roots. The key here is not to over-water–this can lead to root rot–but if you see that your leaves are wilting due to lack of water, misting might help revive them back into health again.
Examine the root zone of your plant
If plants are wilting, a quick check of the soil’s moisture content is in order. This will help you identify where your water needs to go, whether that be through creating a new watering hole or restoring the moisture content in your current one. If the root zone of your plant looks dry and depleted, don’t be afraid to dig up some rocks or gravel and add them to the area around the plant’s roots. A layer of rocks, mulch, and compost will ensure that all available space has access to water while preventing runoff from damaging surrounding plants.
Misting and Sprinkling
One way to keep plants cool is by misting or sprinkling them. Misting is a great option for large plants that are set up in areas where watering can be automated, like an outdoor kitchen. In fact, misting leaves you with a higher moisture retention rate than water alone because the droplets of liquid cool the plant. To make sure your garden stays hydrated and healthy during the hottest part of the day, try fertilizing your soil with foliar feeding or using a low-nitrogen fertilizer like seaweed extract or rock dust to increase water retention in your plants.
Soil Dipping and Humidifying
If your plants are wilting, you may want to water more frequently but in smaller amounts. This will help the plants maintain their moisture levels and avoid dehydration. If your garden’s soil is dry, you can also add more water for a short time to help keep your plants hydrated; let the water soak into the ground before re-dipping or irrigating it. You can also use a hose to humidify the air around your garden by spraying mist on the leaves of plants you don’t want to wilt. Misting helps maintain leaf temperature and prevents water loss by evaporation.
Use Mist Preens and a Dry Fogger
To help your plants stay hydrated, a mist preens can be used to supplement humidity and keep the soil moist. Essentially, this is a water bottle hooked up to a spray nozzle. There are several different styles of mist preens available, but most work in the same manner. Mist preens that use bulbs can also be used to make sure that light is reaching your plants’ leaves throughout the day.
If you’d like to dry-fog your garden while it’s still hot outside, make sure you have enough room to set up an oscillating or ultrasonic fogger. It may take some time for the fogger to reach a temperature high enough to create a dense fog, so start early if you want an effective solution for keeping humidity high during warm weather.
Instillation and Erosion Control
The first step to getting your garden through a hot summer is ensuring that it thrives in the heat. Proper installation and erosion control are the keys to making sure your plants stay cool and hydrated long enough for them to survive the scorching days of summer. When you water your plants, make sure you water deeply so that you can use the moisture in the soil. If there isn’t any available surface water, consider sprinkling on a layer of mulch to keep temperatures down as well as protect against erosion.
If possible, avoid planting trees or shrubs close to pathways and patios where they will be exposed to direct sunlight all day long and have their leaves wilted by noon time.
Don’t Forget the Shady Spot
It’s easy to see why plants need water. A cool and moist environment is vital for healthy growth and overall health. But don’t forget about the shady spot where your plants tend to enjoy a break from the sun. If you plant them close enough together, they will benefit from shading each other during hot days. This means that their leaves will stay cooler than if they were in direct sunlight all day long. So, even if you have mulched or planted your garden into a mostly shaded area, be sure to make space for plants with direct sunlight requirements like tomatoes or avocados.
Protecting Outdoor Plants from Heat Damage
The best way to protect outdoor plants from heat damage is to keep them hydrated. Ensure your garden has proper drainage, and avoid overwatering. If you have a fence or trellis, be sure it doesn’t block more than one-third of the sunlight. Check the temperature in the shade of your garden every few days; if it gets too hot, move your plants into the shade or water them more.
If your plants are already wilting because of high temps, begin watering at 6 am or 7 am so that you can use the water before midday heat arrives. And if you see yellowing leaves on plants that are not wilting, don’t worry; they will eventually green up again.
To help prevent plant diseases and insects, make sure that you have sufficient ventilation around your garden, and avoid using pesticides near plants.
Conclusion
The best way to water a plant is to understand the plant’s root zone. For the most part, plants don’t need water when the air is dry and soil is well-drained. However, when the summer sun heats up, soil becomes dry and can cause plants to wilt as a result.
Solutions to this problem include misting and sprinkling plants, soil dipping and humidifying plants, using a mist preen to maintain humidity and a dry fogger to prevent evaporation.
