How To Care For Plants During A Heat Wave

Heatwaves are occurring more frequently than they use to, and higher temperatures mean your plants need more water and it’s getting harder to care for plants during a heat wave.  With such unusually high heat, we need to take a few extra steps to keep our landscapes healthy. The water needs in heat waves vary wildly from plant to plant and even from place to place, based on both the air temperature, ET and the soil type that’s in your garden.

Below is a quick list of things you can do today to care for your plants during a heat wave.

They are water-efficient practices that help your landscape stay healthier in the heat and helps you care for your plants during a heat wave:

1. An extra late afternoon watering helps keep the plant roots cool.
2. Make shade for your plants. Think to repurpose here. Old window screens, wood lattice, or if your plants are tall, install a sunshade beside them to protect the base from the sun.
3. Remove weeds to reduce competition for moisture.
4. Water early in the morning, right before dawn, this reduces losses to wind and evaporation.
5. Test the spray patterns of sprinkler systems, check for clogged lines and mixed nozzle sizes of sprinkler heads, repair leaks.
6. Use drip irrigation to reduce water usage. An emitterline or a blank irrigation tubing with emitters is recommended. You can purchase a 100% Virgin Resin Dripline from the Jain Online Store.
7. Set lawn mower blades higher to increase ground shade and water retention in soil.
8. Mulch around shrubs and planters to reduce evaporation and cut down on weeds.
9. Install an ETwater smart controller using Jain Unity to ensure your plants receive the correct amount of water.

You’ve worked too hard to let your landscape fail in the heat. Unfortunately, the hot sun can be brutal on garden plants and their roots.

These tips help If watering and mulching are not doing enough to keep your plants cool enough to continue producing.

If you liked this article, here is an interesting tidbit from SF Gate.

Once the extreme temperatures break, check the strength of your plants and turf. You can decide after a few weeks to recover the plants before deciding whether to clip or prune your plants, this one of the most essential steps to care for your plants during a heat wave.

Maintaining a healthy landscape all year long will make it easier to preserve during a heat wave. Keep up with your watering with your smart irrigation controller and interface, we do recommend using Jain Unity for your smart controller. Jain Unity is compatible with majority of the smart controllers in the market with a device called Hermit Crab, if you do not have an existing controller you can purchase an ETwater SmartBox that is 100% compatible with Jain Unity from the Jain Online Store. This will give your lawn and garden a greater chance of survival in most weather conditions.

For additional resources to prevent heat stress and to care for your plants during the heatwave, you can read this article from Oregon State University here as well as a few tips that could help you care for your plants during a heatwave here.

Also, don’t forget late summer is the time to plant your fall-producing crops, such as spinach, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, beets, and radishes. Midsummer, one of my favorite times of the year because it is full of melons, plums, nectarines, and peaches. It’s the best time to plan a fall vegetable strategy.

It is also the time to start planning your fall garden before the days grow too short and the nights too cold. Here are the steps you should take to make sure your fall vegetables are successful and some of my favorite fall vegetables to plant. Here is an amazing article to plan your fall vegetable strategy.