Aug 26 2016

More Heat equals More Water?

Just yesterday, I was talking to a local gardener. He was telling me that the hotter it gets, the more water he needs to use to keep plants, etc. from dying! He noticed that he was getting more and more ants and that the plants were getting more attacked by pests and diseases. He asked me to explain to him why, and what he should be doing about it.

So I told him to read my column! Since he was already reading it, he said he would look out for it. I said if he has any additional questions after reading the article, to email me and I would write more!

So here goes.

Malibu is fortunate enough not to experience the incredibly high heat (over 100 degrees F) for prolonged periods of time. But nevertheless, we are experiencing such high heat (over 95 degrees F) that we need to pay attention to what it is doing to our soil.

We only realize we have a plant or tree problem when it is almost too late to do something about it. When a tree goes into shock because of the very earth, it is living in turns into a solid form of rock, and no amount of air and water gets to it. When this happens, no amount of my magic will help it. I believe in being Proactive rather than reactive.

When you are watering your lawn almost on a daily basis, and then you stop for a few days, the lawn will almost die on you. This is the same thing this gardener was telling me. He said that at first, he was watering only twice a week and then as it got hotter he went to three times per week then four times per week. He was thinking of watering it every day since that’s when he thinks it will do better. But he also added that he has to add more fertilizers and other chemicals to combat the diseases and pests it was getting. That’s why he started reading my column and was trying to convert to organics.

A big part of growing organically is cultural practices. What you do to the soil is just as important as what you feed your plants. How we water is as equally important.

One of the best books on organic gardening that I have ever read (besides my books of course) is The Lazy Mans Guide to Gardening. The author was really into layering. That’s when you add layers of various natural materials throughout the years with a soaker or drip line at the very bottom. The idea is very simple and logical. By keeping all your water below ground, you save up to 75% of your watering.

Any water that is exposed to the air will evaporate, especially if the weather is hot at all. That water will disappear. Also gone will be the water along the top 2 or 4 inches of soil and maybe even down deeper depending on the soil structure and whether it is getting underground watering or not.

What happens when you water too often?

Many things: To start with the root systems are damaged. The soil becomes water logged if over watered. If watering a few minutes every few days, lawns, plants, trees, get lazy and no longer go down searching for water but turn up towards the water source. If the water stops for a few days, the roots get further damaged and eventually will kill the plant or tree or lawn.

You need to keep the water below ground as much as possible. You can replace your overhead lawn sprinklers with buried drip lines (about 3 feet down). You should replace all overhead sprinklers on your property with drip lines.  You should add 4 tree vents around each tree each with its own 2 gals per hour drip heads. Inside place a good organic slow release fertilizer mixed with live compost. Rock dust should have been added to the compost, if not you should add directly into the tree vents. The tree vents should be 3 to 6 feet deep. Ok to use PVC pipes with holes along side to allow water to go sideways down deep.

Then you should start the layering process. By layering various organic materials such as hay, grass clippings, cardboard, newspaper, leaves (always layered with compost) then you then have started to protect the soil from the heat above it. With the watering down below, all of your plants will require less watering. This will, in turn, make your plants healthier and stress-free. A happy plant or tree or lawn that uses less water is what we want after all.

Malibu usually has available to it an abundant underground water source. This water source has been depleted in several ways. First from overuse by agricultural, commercial, and military use. Then it is being invaded by seawater as the ocean slowly raises.

Those living at or below sea level will find that this invasion will slowly kill off any trees that have deep roots, as the seawater will kill them. Those that live a little bit higher ground will have a different problem. Both will have to learn how to catch the rain and even use the fog to catch water. By saving this resource and then suitably diverting it slowly thru the drip system, you will be able to save all of your plants, trees, lawns even in a drought that last for years. It will rain, and there will be fog, so learn how to grab it and hang on to it; it may be the difference between life and death for your property.

By the way, learn to use gray water as this is a major waste of our precious water.

  So the answer is No.

Any questions? Email me andylopez@invisiblegardener.com response next article

Andy Lopez

Invisible Gardener