A video featuring Kyle Daniel, a nursery and landscape specialist in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University, has been uploaded to the AP Video Hub.
In the video, he explains when and how much garden and landscape plants should be watered during periods of high heat and drought. This video can be found at https://bit.ly/3RCGF6S. All videos in the Campus Insights series are free for download and use by all AP members and can be found at apvideohub.ap.org or by doing a general search on the Associated Press site. AP members may use the video or to pull quotes for print articles or for broadcast or podcast.
With much of the country dealing with high temperatures and lack of rain, Daniel says plants may be suffering from heat stress, which causes damage. Since water is not moving nutrients from the soil to the plant, long-term damage can occur for up to four years in some evergreen plants. He says it is important to properly water plants in order to reduce short- and long-term problems.
Daniel says that residents should use around 1 inch of water per week on most landscape plants. The amount of water put into the ground can be measured using a rain gauge. The ideal time to water plants is early in the morning. However, Daniel stresses that getting water in the ground is the most important thing, regardless of time. Annual plants require more watering than others due to how rapidly they grow during the summer. He recommends watering annuals twice a week.
Categories: Indiana, Education, Rural Lifestyle, Weather