SAN ANTONIO – As the triple-digit temperatures keep stacking up this summer, our native heat and drought-tolerant plants are fighting to survive. Our Avery Everett spoke with a local blogger about that struggle.
We know they are struggling, so how do we keep them alive?
The answer: lots of hand watering. It’s what they are doing at Fannick’s nursery, once, sometimes twice a day.
The manager of Fannick’s Nursery, Mark Fannick, said short shallow waterings won’t cut it.
“A deep soak, a plant 12 inches down on a slow drip or hand watering, you’re going to stand there two to four minutes at least,” Fannick said.
And that’s just for plants in the ground. Fannick said as for potted plants, they need to be watered once a day. Some of the tropical or non-natives like bougainvillea especially when they are in full sun, twice a day. He said to bring them into the shade before 2 p.m.
But most importantly, listen to your plants. “The cool thing about plants, is that they don’t talk to you but they have great sign language,” Fannick said.
Here is what I do:
How much water:
- If you want your drought and heat-tolerant plants to survive these triple-digit temperatures, don’t just give them daily shallow waterings. You are going to want to give them some deep waterings every couple of days.
- It takes me a good eight to 10 minutes to deep water by hand the full-sun section of my heat and drought-tolerant plants, which is a little under 200 square feet. I’ll spend at least 30 seconds on each plant, letting the water puddle, go down, and then do it again.
Your plants talking to you:
- A good example of your plant talking to you is when your sweet potato vine or zinnias start wilting, even though both do pretty well in the heat.
- This is normal if they haven’t been watered in the morning and are in full sun between noon and 2 p.m. during triple-digit temperatures.
- Don’t worry, once you give it a good watering the leaves will be nice and full again or the flowers will perk right up.
What about my roses?
- I know San Antonio homeowners love their roses, but because they aren’t native, they will need a lot of water to make it through the heat.
- My Peggy Martin roses, which are very hardy, have also lost a lot of foliage during these triple-digit temperatures, and the leaves yellow or even get burnt. This is a sign that they need a deep watering.
But how much water is enough?
- I take a wooden cooking spoon. I mark it at 6 inches. Then I put it into the dirt next to my rose bush six inches in, if the tip of the spoon when you pull it out is moist or has moist soil on it, they don’t need water. But recently, I couldn’t even get the spoon three inches into the ground because it’s so hard and dry, so I knew it would need some extra water.
- I put the water hose down and let it soak the roots for 2-5 minutes, every couple of days. If you don’t want to spend the time outside doing this, soaker hoses also work well for these deep waterings.
Not all plants need daily or deep watering:
- Especially those drought-tolerant ones in the shade, because overwatering can also cause the leaves to wilt or brown as well but there are tools to help.
- For your plants that are in the shade most of the day, you can use a moisture meter. It’s going to tell you when they need water. For example, my cone flowers which are native and drought tolerant are in pots that get partial shade during peak heat. I watered it two days ago, and the moisture meter is still reading that it’s very moist. So I’ll let this dry out for a couple more days.
- The best trick? Use your hands and touch the soil. If the soil is moist at least one to two inches in, leave it.