Successful Summer Planting

It’s that time of year folks! Somebody cranked the heat up. Without warning, and after a nice cool start to the season, summer has arrived full force. We went from watering once or twice a week to every day. The smaller plant starts in little pots are needing a spritz twice a day!

 The workday begins much earlier now. Like farmers, we’re going to bed with the sun and getting up with the sun. If we don’t hit the jobsite or the back yard by 6 AM, we don’t get as much done. Anticipating the afternoon breeze becomes our only thought as we guzzle water in the shade. But the work must get done.

 Moving dirt, building stone walls, filling containers, and other physically demanding activities happen at a slower pace now as the breaks in between get longer in this survival mode. But what about planting? Is this an activity we should be doing now? Should we just wait until the weather cooperates and provides cloud cover and cooler temperatures? Fortunately, there are a few precautions the experienced gardener or landscaper can take to ensure successful planting this time of year.

 The best thing to do is plant either early in the morning or in the evening when the temperature is a little lower and there might be a slightly higher humidity. But often this is not an option, especially for the professional who has a time constraint. Planting in the heat of the day requires some extra care to ensure there is minimal if any transplant shock.

 First, make sure the plant, tree, or shrub is well hydrated to begin with. Water it in the pot well the night before if possible. Whenever you bring things home from the nursery, water them. It’s often difficult to tell how long it’s been since the plants were watered, unless you happen to be shopping while the staff are watering. As a precaution, water again when you get home, especially if the plants have been lying on their side or riding in the back of a truck. Hydration, hydration, hydration!

 Second, and perhaps most important, is to make sure the planting hole is also well hydrated. If at all possible, fill the hole with water the night before to make sure the soil around the hole is soaked. You will not be able to adequately soak it right before planting. Water will always move in the soil from a higher concentration to a lower concentration. What this means is, if you plant a tree in a dry hole and soak it once or twice, the water will be drawn away from the root ball into the dry surrounding soil. Rather quickly.

 Third, it’s critical to keep the root ball wet during the entire process. This means on the hottest days, you should be spraying the root ball with water while you are transferring it to the planting hole. A well grown nursery plant will have thousands of fine feeder roots. These little darlings are only one cell thick, and the plant is 100% dependent on them for survival and growth. Two things will destroy these fine roots almost instantly: direct sunlight and dry air or soil. So please, take extra special care to keep the sun off the root ball and don’t let it dry out! And never, ever put dry soil against the root ball.

 Finally, after you have watered the planted tree or shrub a few times to make sure it’s nicely saturated, take a break and let the water soak in well. Then, grab your bottle of SuperThrive and put a teaspoon (cap full) into a bucket and fill it with water. Give each plant you have planted a little drink of this to help with the transplant shock. As with fertilization, this is done on a saturated root ball so the good stuff doesn’t just go deep into the earth and not help the plant.

 Follow these guidelines and you will impress your friends and neighbors with your skills as a gardener as your plants not only survive during the heat, but actually thrive. Maybe they will even look better than theirs.

 See you around the watering hole!

The HortiCoach

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