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Strategies for drought

Plants are experiencing drought stress when it’s been as hot and dry as these last few weeks in Western NC. Even the forest tree species are dropping some leaves to reduce respiration surfaces.

The obvious and simple strategy is to make sure that plants are adequately watered. Less frequent but deeper waterings are better than shallow waterings. Some plants will require more than others. For example grapes are drought tolerant. Blueberries are variety specific in their needs for water: rabbit eyes are more tolerant than northern high bush varieties.

The best thing to do is to watch the plants themselves for drought stress. Leaves will become less lustrous and more droopy. This indicates that the plants have lost their turdor, which means they are having a hard time pumping moisture to the leaves.

Well-established plants will survive drought but the importance of watering during drought at this time of year is to ensure the quality of the fruit. The fruit will be smaller and dryer in times of drought.

Installing drip irrigation is always an effective long-term strategy which takes less water and brings water directly to the root zone which keeps the plants in regular growth.

A rule of thumb is to make sure your plants get 1 inch of water per week. If the drought is severe, combat drought stress by soil drenching with or foliar spraying with a seaweed concentrate like Nature’s Nog.

Also, make sure the plants are mulched 2” thick around the entire drip zone. Most plants are undermulched in terms of diameter. It must circle out to the edges of the roots. Apply a layer of cardboard or newspaper before adding mulch in order to suppress weeds. Keep the mulch about 2" away from tree and shrub stems.

From the UPN August 2008 newsletter.