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Released: August 21, 2003 Ornamental Plants Need Help to Survive Summer’s Dry Heat MANHATTAN, Kan. – “There’s a reason why Kansas is called a prairie state. So if you aren’t willing to baby your plants or if you have water restrictions, don’t plant wimpy trees and shrubs,” said Ned Tisserat, Kansas State University plant pathologist. He’s already worried about what may happen to many landscape plants next spring. “We’re getting calls that river birch, sycamore and other trees are beginning to drop leaves. That’s normal as water gets in short supply and trees cut back to conserve moisture,” Tisserat said. “When a moisture shortage continues, however, drought injury can develop quickly. “Some affected plants will wilt and die soon after their leaves drop off. In most cases, however, the real effects will be delayed. Damaged trees will make it through the summer, only to decline during the winter months and then ‘go south’ the following spring.” Drought-affected trees also are more subject to canker diseases and have higher odds for being attacked by certain insect borers, said Tisserat, who is K-State Research and Extension’s specialist in landscape plant diseases. He’s strongly advising Kansans to start watering ornamental trees and shrubs now, if they haven’t done so already. This includes the evergreens – which often don’t want or need the same amount of water that deciduous plants do, but sometimes can get into life-threatening trouble even faster than their leaf-dropping kin. “We lost a lot of evergreens the spring following our last late-summer drought,” Tisserat said. Supplying supplemental water doesn’t have to be as complicated a process as some Kansans make it, he said. In fact, while going to extra trouble, some homeowners actually create extra problems. “It isn’t rocket science. You want to put the hose on a slow trickle – or use a soaker hose or trickle irrigation setup. Even an impact sprinkler will work so long as the water is soaking into the ground, not running down the street or into the north 40,” the plant pathologist said. The goal is to moisten the top 4 to 6 inches of soil where roots are growing – an area that extends well beyond trees’ “drip line.” Testing to see whether water has percolated in that deeply is simply a matter of jamming a long, thin screwdriver into the ground, because it will stop going in when it hits dry soil. “Don’t water only next to the trunk. Also don’t overwater and make the ground soggy, because that creates other problems,” he said. Tisserat does not recommend using the root injectors that squirt water under pressure into the soil. “Sometimes they just wet little pockets of soil under the tree, not the whole root zone. Because their water is under pressure, injectors also have a tendency to create underground air pockets. And air pockets can actually damage roots or make them dry out more quickly,” he said. Kansans will need to continue “babying” their ornamental plants until the drought breaks. The only change from now through spring will be that plant owners won’t have to water as often during fall’s cooler temperatures and they won’t have to water at all during winter, except when temperatures rise above freezing. “Right now, though, I’m suggesting that Kansans keep a fairly close watch on how various plants in their landscape are holding up under these hot, dry conditions. It seems like my rhododendrons need to be watered every day,” Tisserat said. “It’s drier than. ... Well, let’s just say, it’s really dry out there, folks.” -30- K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan. Story by: Ned Tisserat is at 785-532-1387 |