Water you talking about!?

     I have discussed this issue in the past, yet, there is still a LOT of bad information floating around the internet. I peruse the web frequently looking for people that maybe having issues that I can be of assistance with, and I find lots of misinformation, or just plain old ignorance. I am NOT saying I know ALL of the answers, show me somebody that says they do, and I will show you a liar. Most of gardening is common sense, and yes there is no such thing as a stupid question, but sometimes the things I read????.......WOW!
     Today, I would like to discuss a common problem, every living being requires this substance and there are lots of variables to how much one needs.
Watering.

     Many of the websites and articles that I read have a sentence in there that drives me crazy! I usually bring it up in every lecture that I do. It goes something like this, “This plant needs one inch of water per week” or something similar to that.
WHY, does that sentence bother me so much?
Let me run a couple of scenarios by you.
     You have your favorite plant, it doesn't matter what it is for this example, it has a growing hints tag or you have read that it requires one inch of water per week. Okay, that is fine. What if this plant is in a very sandy soil? Water drains exceptionally well in sand, because it has little to no water holding capabilities. That one inch of water will be gone in hours, the plant is now not going to have access to any water 3-4 days later.
     Let's reverse the scene. The plant is in a very heavy peat based or clay soil. Peat and clay hold water very well. That one inch of water may still be around in a week. Then you water again. It continues to build up until the plant literally drowns. More on that in a minute.
So you need to be aware of the type of soil it is in.
What if you are growing things in pots? That opens a whole new set of questions and problems.

       A terracotta or clay pot is very pretty. They are nice and heavy and help to stabilize the plant, especially if you are in a windy area. That clay or terracotta will actually work against you as it wicks the water away from the soil. So here again, one inch of water will be gone in a shorter period of time than one week. Plastic pots tend to retain the water better. You guessed it, one inch of water per week might be too much.
     Everybody knows that drainage is important when you are container growing. Pots should have holes in it, well how many holes?

 Do you think that both of these would drain the same? Both are plastic, one just looks like terracotta. Let me throw one more monkey wrench into it. If either of these were sitting on concrete and the hole(s) were to become clogged, what kind of drainage would they have? The following would work better sitting on a hard surface.

Notice the holes along the sides? There are some in the bottom also.
     There are numerous other things that need to be taken into consideration when it comes to how much water a plant needs. The type of plant is a big one. A Cactus will need MUCH less water than a Philodendron. I know, the Cactus label probably does not read one inch of water per week. I have actually met somebody that watered theirs every other day, their thinking was...it's a plant and they need water. It eventually succumbed to root rot.  Then, there was the case of a woman that literally...I can't make this stuff up...watered her large Cactus one tablespoon of water every 6 months and wondered why it was looking poorly. Two true story extremes, but you see the point here.
      Size of the pot is another good example. Which do you think would need to be watered more often, a plant in a four inch pot or something the size of a trash can?
     How about the weather? Do you think a week of cloudy, overcast, cool weather will need to be watered more or less than one in 95 degrees, with a cloudless sky, and windy?
     So, as you can see, there are many more variables associated with watering than the typical, easy sentence of 1 inch per week.
     Hopefully this has given you some idea of why you need to know your plants needs and the situation it is trying to be grown in.
     What is that you say?
How do you know if you are over-water or under-watering?
EXCELLENT question!
The plant will tell you, if you know what to look for.
     Sometimes when plants start to show symptoms of stress, i.e. wilting, the first reaction is to water, but sometimes over-watering can be just as detrimental to a plant's health as under-watering and will show the same response. Symptoms of both over and under-watering can look very similar. Leaves turn brown and wilt. Often times, when this happens to under-watered plants, those dead leaves will be dry and crispy. While with over-watering, those leaves may still be soft and limp.
Here is a little test: Does this wilted plant need water, or has it been over-watered?

Tough to tell huh?
     When the soil stays wet for too long the roots die off and when the roots die off the plant can’t take up water and if the plant can’t take up water IT WILTS!
     With under-watering the plant tries to conserve what little water it has by keeping the stalk green and the roots moist, but the leaves will wilt and eventually dry up.
Both over and under-watering can lead to other things, such as stunted growth, and lack of fruit or flowers.
Many people like to use a water meter on their plants. If you are not familiar with these, it is usually a probe that you stick in the soil and it will tell you whether you need to water or not.
I am not a big fan of them because the ones I have had were not very reliable. I tried a test once with one, I stuck it into a pot of extremely dry soil, I know it was very dry because it fell out in one piece, was very light and had been sitting in a back corner of my greenhouse for several months without being watered. The meter said it was fine, do not water.
     You actually have a reliable water meter with you right now. Scientifically it is called “the index finger”. Stick that scientific device into the soil, about 1-2 inches....if it feels dry, water...if it is damp, don't and check again tomorrow. Pretty cool huh?!
     For potted plants there is another method. Water the plant very well, make sure there is water coming out of the drainage holes. Side note, make sure the water is going through the soil and not just running down in between the soil and the side of the pot. Then, lift the pot up. Get that weight in your head. After a couple of days, lift the pot again. If it feels much lighter than the other day, water, if it still feels heavy, check again in a couple of days.
I have been known to use both methods. I will stick my finger in a pot, then lift it. I very seldom have a water issue problem.
Hopefully, this has shed some light on the subject of watering. If you MUST err one way or the other, do so on the under-watering side. Many plants are much more drought tolerant than we think and will recover from too little water. There are not many that will come back from a dip into the deep end of a pool, unable to swim, with no life preserver!
Happy Growing!
Darren

Good Nutrition is for your Plants too!

Everyday we are bombarded by news reports and TV commercials stressing good nutrition. Eat right, stay away from fat and sugars, blah, blah, blah.
The past week or so I have been extremely busy as a Master Gardener. I have been working the Home and Garden Show, doing a lecture or two, and working our information booth out at the Coastal Carolina Fair. At every single event I got asked "What is wrong with my plant?"
I think we need to start having those nutrition commercials for plants also. It is absolutely amazing to me the amount of people that think they know how to grow plants, but have no idea that they need to be fed!
Okay, to be fair, I was asked by one nice lady....Why do I need to feed my plants? Nobody is feeding the plants in the forest.
I told her she was partially right. Mother Nature was feeding them. She had a very perplexed look on her face after that.
We have basically screwed with the natural order of things. In the forest, leaves drop off every Autumn. They fall to the ground and decompose. Nobody rakes them up into a nice neat pile and hauls them away. That is food for the plants for next year. Along with animal droppings, worm castings, other plants that die, and all kinds of other micro-organisms. That is how Mother Nature feeds her plants. In short, she has a HUGE compost bin. In our yards we clean, primp, rake, and remove all of that food. It is even worst in our container plants. THAT is why we must feed our plants. She walked away with a brand new look on feeding.
If you look at a bag of plant food, you will see three numbers. There are all kinds of combinations, I will use 5-1-3. The 5 is the amount of Nitrogen in this product.
Nitrogen is the primary component of proteins and is a part of every living cell. This nutrient is usually more responsible for increasing plant growth than any other nutrient, as long as it is used within reason and in conjunction with other nutrients. Shortages can cause slow growth, reduced leaf size, yellowing, short branches, premature Fall color and leaf drop, and increases the likelihood of some diseases. An over abundance can cause excessive shoot and foliage growth, reduced root growth, and increased susceptibility to environmental stresses and some other plant diseases.
This what a Nitrogen deficiency can look like:



Notice the yellow leaves compared to everything around it? This is a Citrus tree that some how or another kept getting missed when it came to feeding time. Everything else around it looks fine. Nitrogen is a nutrient that moves very freely through the soil and is literally washed out every time you water or it rains, especially in a container such as this one. Even in the ground, Nitrogen can be depleted and needs to be replaced.
The second number (1 in my example) is Phosphorus. This nutrient plays a role in photosynthesis, respiration, energy storage and transfer, cell division, and cell enlargement.
Though less common than Nitrogen deficiency, Phosphorus shortages can look like this:



Purple veins may appear on the leaves or the leaves may take on a purplish color. It will also produce stunted growth and small thin stems. Like I mentioned, it is much less common a problem. If you have ever applied any fertilizer, the chances are good that the Phosphorus is still there. It does not move through the soil hardly at all.
The third number, (3 in my example) is Potassium. I should pause here a second and give you a tiny memory trick. Do you have trouble trying to figure out what order the numbers are in on the bag? As long as you can remember the three nutrients, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are the three numbers listed on a fertilizer bag, it is always listed in alphabetical order.
Now, back to Potassium deficiency. It too is involved in many of the plants growth processes. It is also vital to photosynthesis and helps regulate water in plants. Potassium fertilization helps plants overcome drought stress, increases disease resistance, and improves Winter hardiness.
It can look like this:



Typical symptoms of Potassium deficiency in plants include brown scorching and curling of leaf tips. The symptoms generally first appear on older leaves. Potassium can move through the soil fairly quickly, faster than Phosphorus, but not as fast as Nitrogen.
That is a very quick idea of what are called the Macro-Nutrients. These are what a plant needs the most of.
There is also a list of Micro-Nutrients. These are needed by the plant, but in much lesser amounts.
This list includes:
Boron. Believed to be involved in carbohydrate transport in plants; it also assists in metabolic regulation. Boron deficiency will often result in bud dieback.
Chlorine. Necessary for osmosis and ionic balance; it also plays a role in photosynthesis.
Copper. A component of some enzymes and of vitamin A. Symptoms of copper deficiency include browning of leaf tips and chlorosis (leaf yellowing).
Iron. Essential for chlorophyll synthesis, which is often why an iron deficiency also results in chlorosis.
Manganese. Activates some important enzymes involved in chlorophyll formation. Manganese deficient plants can develop chlorosis between the veins of its leaves. The availability of manganese is partially dependent on soil pH.
Molybdenum. Essential to plant health. Molybdenum is used by plants to reduce nitrates into usable forms. Some plants use it for nitrogen fixation, thus it may need to be added to some soils before seeding legumes (Beans and Peas).
Zinc. This also participates in chlorophyll formation, and activates many enzymes. Symptoms of zinc deficiency include chlorosis and stunted growth.
So, as you can see, many nutrients rely on each other, or deficiencies can mimic each other.
There is not much need to worry about the Micro-nutrients, most good fertilizers already have them.
Which brings me to my next point. Types of fertilizers.
You should ALWAYS get your soil tested by your local extension office before applying any fertilizer. It could actually save you some money, time, and headaches in the end.
With that being said, the shear number of fertilizers on the market can be overwhelming! There are granules, water soluable, slow release, quick release, natural, and on and on. In a way I can see why people don't feed their plants, they have no idea what to use!!
Let me break down a few of the more common ones.
Slow release fertilizer. It is exactly what it sounds like. They release nutrients at a rate that makes them available to plants over a long period. They are applied less often and many believe they are better for the environment because they have less chance of leaching into the water supply. While I am on this topic, please do not use fertilizer spikes. If you want the whole story as to why not, I can give it to you. Suffice to say, they are just bad news.
Water Soluable. Again, exactly what it sounds like. This fertilizer is mixed with water at a specified rate. This type of fertilizer needs to be applied more often, but it is available to the plant much more quickly.
Natural Fertilizers. When it comes to the naturals, there is often a lot of quess work involved. Most natural materials are far less predictable in nutrient content, nutrient release, and nutrient efficiency than commercial grade fertilizers. Before most natural fertilizers can be absorbed by plants, they have to be broken down to an inorganic form by soil microorganisms through a decaying process called mineralization. This process is affected by moisture, temperature, and the microbial species and populations in the soil. Some examples of Natural fertilizers include, Blood Meal, Sewer Sludge, Animal Manures, Fish Emulsion and Cottonseed Meal.
The advantages and disadvantages of natural and synthetic fertilizers relate to the consumer, not to the plant. Use what you feel comfortable with, or have had success with.
This whole article just barely scratches the surface of fertilizers. I did not even get into the effect soil pH has on fertilizers. Or "when" to fertilize the plant if it is in the ground or in a container, especially if you will be protecting the containerized plants over the Winter or anything else like that. If you have a specific question in that regard, please feel free to contact me.....TheCitrusGuy@netzero.com.
There is so much information out there and new studies are being done almost on a weekly schedule. I wanted to bring your attention to the fact that plants DO need to be fed, whether it be naturally or artificially.
I will leave you with this story, completely true!
A woman came to me with a Citrus problem. She had a Meyer Lemon that she bought two years ago. It was a nice little tree already bearing fruit. She was growing it in a pot. When she came to me, the tree had not produced any fruit the prior year and was turning yellow. After a few questions I found out she did not know it needed to be fed, and had not given it anything to eat in the two years she had owned it!! I asked her how she would feel if she had not eaten in two years!?
Please remember to feed your plants!!
Happy Growing!
Darren