What do you think? Does this plant need to be watered? I think a lot of people would say yes and run straight to the watering can to give this plant a top up.
But what if I told you that was actually harming your plant? That it is better to just let the plant be and not give it water.
This is one of the keys to watering less--understanding how plants deal with hot weather and how wilting is actually a method for dealing with the heat like sweating is for us.
The plant in the above picture looked like that daily for about 5 days during a period of above normal heat (80-87 degrees F) about 1.5 weeks ago.
But this is how that same plant looked at the end of the day (same day the other pic was taken).
I did not give the plant a drop of water during that heat. Each day it wilted and at the end of each day it was back to looking happy on its own.
Do you notice something different in that 2nd picture? It was taken in the evening and the plant was out of the direct sun.
What Wilting is Good For
It turns out that wilting is a way for plants to draw water out of their leaves and close off their pores during heat.
This means that the plant greatly reduces the amount of water it is losing through its leaves.
Basically the plant makes the decision that it is too hot and it needs to rest and keep the water in the stems and other plant tissues and not in the leaves.
The result is that we see the leaves wilt.
But if you give the plant water then you trick it into thinking it should wake up despite the heat. This results in the plant loosing more water and potentially being more stressed not less.
However, sometimes you do need to water when the plants wilt.
How to Determine if Wilting Means You Should Water
To find out if you need to give your plants water follow these steps.
- Check the soil around the plant down an inch or so under the surface. Is it still wet/moist? If yes then the plant does not need watering.
- Was the plant wilting in the morning? If so it likely needs watering.
- Watch the plant through the day. Does it stop wilting in the evening? If yes then it does not need watering.
You only want to water your plant if it actually needs it. Wilting is actually a poor way of telling this. If the plant looks fine in the morning and evenings then it likely does not need watering.
By not watering you will encourage the plant to respond to the heat appropriately and you will encourage the plant to send its roots deeper and further out in search of more water.
Then if you do need to water your plant will be in a better state to fully utilize that water.
I hope you have found this post helpful. Before you go make sure to check out the related blog post (link below) for 5 ways you can reduce the amount of water your garden needs.
Thank you!
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