Plants Are Like People: Water With Love Even If It’s Tough.
When people ask me how to water their plants I usually turn right around ask them for instructions on how to raise kids. The point being you can’t know what to do for a plant until you get to know it like a person. Raising plants is a lot like raising kids, and once you learn what works best for both of you the better off you both will be. Too often people think that plants are like hardwood floors, that they need to be waxed at certain intervals, need to be kept perfectly clean, and that given the perfect routine treatment will always look shiny and new and age perfectly. What they need to learn is that plants are like people and they need nourishment, security, and love; sometimes even tough love.
The overall goal of watering should always be to help plants get established quickly, and develop a healthy deep seated root system to deal with the trials and tribulations that lie ahead. While you want to be diligent at giving your plants what they need to get established, you also want them to start to take less and less care from you. If you have the right plant in the right spot, they should eventually be able to care of themselves. That journey begins with security. The best security a plant can have is not knowing that you will run out and water it at the drop of a leaf, but rather that it has plenty of water in the soil around it, not just in the hole that you put it in.
During the average growing season, most established plants can use no more than one inch of water per week. To be able to stick to this you need to make sure that all of the soil in and around the planting area has a deep base of adequate moisture. If it does, as the soil dries out immediately around a newly planted plant moisture will move from the surrounding soil to the soil in the hole through osmosis. If you plant a plant into to an area where all of the surrounding soil is dry, when you water all of the moisture will move the other way and you won’t be able to retain moisture around the plant. Whenever you are going to be planting an area, you should always water the entire area thoroughly. Think of it as getting the nursery ready for that newborn you are about to bring home. In the end it save you several trips to the store (or in this case hose).
The key to establishing healthy plants is the same as for kids. You want to love them, but you don’t want to spoil them. Plants that are watered too frequently will not achieve the necessary root growth they need. Instead, they will develop a shallow root system that you have to constantly water, and the roots will never get out on their own. Nature very rarely waters more than once a week and manages to sustain itself and withstand times of extreme stress. Even in those times of extreme stress nature will usually adapt and turn out stronger in the long run. By having thoroughly watered soil, not only will moisture move toward the plant as it is needed, but the roots will move out to it in search of what they need. Watering too frequent and not deep enough will train the roots never to leave home. Beyond just water needs deep watering will also help retain the nutrients in the soil by not washing them out of the soil because watering all of the time.
Anyone who knows what it is like to love a child should be well prepared to give a plant the love it needs. Just like you want to make sure your child has everything they need to succeed in life you want to do the same for your plants. The worst thing you can do for either of you is constantly react to circumstances. In the end sometimes plants and children both need a little tough love. Even if your plants have everything they need in the subsoil on the hottest of days they are going to wilt. The last thing you want to do is run out there an water them. That wilting action is triggering an natural response from the plant to dig in and grow the roots they need. As long as that soil has the water the plant needs it will find a way to get it. Just like your kids sometimes need to work through things, your plants need to do the same.
For those who need a little more specific information, these guidelines should help you be sure your plants to get established and encourage the root growth they eventually need to make it without you.
Whenever installing a new plant be sure and water all of the soil around the hole. It is imperative that the root mass of new plants always be kept moist, as well as the soil around the holes they are in until active root growth begins. Adequate moisture needs to be maintained until the roots actually leave the hole that was dug for installation and penetrate the surrounding soil. The best way to accomplish this is to actually water the hole you dug for the plant before you put it in it. Actually fill the hole you have dug for the plant entirely with water and let it seep into the surrounding soil. You will want to do this repeatedly until water begins to hold in the hole or seep out very slowly. When you are planting the plant, water the plant while it is still in the container or burlap before putting it in the hole. It is much easier to make sure it is moist before it is underground and covered with soil. Once the water you put in the hole has drained, place the plant at the proper level, and back fill the hole with soil halfway up around the root ball. Once you have lightly packed the soil to hold the plant in place, fill the rest of the hole with water again. Be sure and let the water soak completely in before back filling it the rest of the way. Not only will this ensure the soil is wet, it will also remove any air pockets in the hole that could later cause roots to dry out or the plant to settle and lean. Once you have finished filling the hole with soil, water it one more time. The most common shortcut you will see a professional landscaper make is not following this entire process. After 25 years in the landscaping business I would not be exaggerating if I said that 80% of the times that plants needed replaced or replanted it was because the installer skipped these simple steps and it wasn’t properly watered during planting.
Watering new plants after planting may be required more than once in the first week. You should check daily to see if the plant needs water, but don’t water daily. Stick your finger into the root mass of the plant as well as the soil around it and see if they are both wet. If you find the soil is dry give it a little water. If it is wet whatever you do don’t water even if the plant is wilting or showing signs of stress. The only thing that will help it is growing the roots it needs to make it on its own. Watering when it is not needed will actually prevent this. You may have to water new plants a couple times a week in the first two weeks as the stress of planting can cause them to use more water, but ideally by the third week you should never have to water more than once a week.
Watering of established plants should not be needed (or performed) more than once per week, and combined with what nature gives they should not need more than the equivalence of 1 inch of precipitation per week. If your soil is adequately moist beneath the surface and all you need to do is supplement that top inch. Watering too frequently will only keep the plant’s roots from reaching out for the moisture that is there. In reality if you are using native species in a place with the proper light exposure, and in the right zone in terms of hardiness range, you shouldn’t have to water a plant at all after the first season. In times of extreme drought you may want to water established plants, but good winter watering (the step below) should prevent the need for any sort of frequent watering.
Winter Watering isn’t something people usually think about. However a plant has more of a chance of dying in winter from a lack of water than it does in summer. The water that fills the tissue of a plant’s trunk and branches is actually what protects it from extreme freezing temperatures. When matter freezes it expands. When the cells of a plant expand, the gases inside can expand more than the tissue itself and cause the cells to explode. If the cells are filled with water it displaces those gases and keeps them from expanding too far. If a plant freezes when it is dry, it can literally freeze-dry the plant, making it impossible for the cells to retain water again. The best way to prevent this is to actually water in the fall or early winter before the ground freezes.
Once the leaves and perennials are down for the season and you have chopped them up for mulch, it is actually the easiest and most efficient time of year to get water in the soil. The water doesn’t roll off the foliage of the plants and lands directly where it needs to go. It also is less likely to evaporate when using a sprinkler because the temperatures are lower. Best of all the plant isn’t using it to grow (other than roots), so even in winter a good saturation can last a couple of months. If you happen to get a warm spell in January or February, I actually recommend watering deeply a a couple of times over winter to establish that deep ground moisture before spring arrives. It is much easier to do it in January than in the spring or summer than when the water is actively being used by the plants and foliage is emerging that deflects it.
Wilting and watering do not always go hand in hand. I alluded to this earlier. When a plant wilts, not only does it reduce transpiration, it is a natural reaction to reduce the amount of energy going to the leaves, and to divert it to other activities such as blooming, fruit production or root growth. All of those are crucial to the survival of the species, and the plant will instinctively focus on those things when it senses stress. Wilting is also a natural response in extreme hot and cold temperatures to reduce the amount of wind or light reaching the foliage to prevent desiccation. More often than not, wilting is sign of healthy developmental activity in stressful situations. If a plant wilts and is wet do not water it, the plant is just doing what it needs to grow the roots to succeed in life. Think of it as tough love.
Stunted and shedding leaves can be indications of both positive and negative conditions other than moisture issues. In the first months and even years after planting, leaves may shed or remain stunted and small to offset the lack of roots lost during transplanting. Usually after several months or even a year, the same branches with stunted leaves suddenly show what seem like over-sized leaves, often three or four times the size of others. This is an indication that the roots are finally leaving the planting pit, and the plant is beginning to get established. Burnt edges on deciduous foliage may be the result of a fungus rather than drought, which water will only exasperate. When evergreens yellow and drop needles in the fall it is often a result of alkaline soil, and they are trying to acidify their own soil. Watering them if wet will only cause root rot. Just because you see these things happen it does not mean a plant needs water. If you see these symptoms and the soil is moist you may need to dig a little deeper to find our what’s wrong. We’ll have another post about how to do that digging later.
The main thing to remember when watering is the more frequent and less deep you water the more often you will have to water. The sooner you learn what your plants really the need, the less you will have to give them, and the less they will eventually need. To some extent, your plants can be taught to live with your schedule, and the sooner you teach them to the better off you both will be. Think of that deep watering you give your plants a couple times this winter as that Sunday afternoon pot roast or chicken and dumplings you make for your family on a cold winter day. It will keep their little cells warm on those cold winter days, and help built the muscles they need get through the summer ahead. It is also like the hearty soup that allows them to pull in all those nutrients from the soil below to fight off disease and stress. Think of watering you plants as caring for someone you love…and they’ll be sure and love you back. Plants are like people, so don’t treat them like a hardwood floor.
