Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Survival Watering for the droughty Mid Atlantic 2012, 0 by coleup

coleup wrote:
Survival Watering is watering how tos for our plants, trees and shrubs when our normal patterns of rainfall are below average for extended periods of time or drought with or without imposed water restrictions.

This thread is meant to be a compilation of resources, guidelines and information for our forum. Feel free to post any additional links and resources and I'll add them to categories below as needed. Discussion is welcome as well as suggestions for keeping this useful for all. This is an experiment and will need adjustments and fine tuning and input from all and hopefully keep us ahead of the curve as drought conditions exist or expand in our region.

Intro

Water loss from the soil is caused by three things: evaporation, gravity, and transpiration (plants sucking it out). In winter, spring and early summer, evaporation is low. Gravity pulls surplus water from the soil but it stays moist. Transpiration is low because the plants aren’t growing very fast, at least in winter and spring. But as things heat up in June and July, water moves out of the soil faster than rainfall can replenish it. Around the first of July, soil begins losing approximately 7/8 inch of water per week. Most established shrubs and trees don’t need watering before that point, but as the soil drys, in the absence of rain, added water is needed to make up for what’s lost, or a prior year deficit.
(from http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/drought-supple...)

RESOURCES

Trees

http://www.walterreeves.com/landscaping/drought-watering-tre...

http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/oak-tree-droug...

http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/dogwood-drough...


Shrubs

http://www.walterreeves.com/landscaping/drought-watering-shr...

http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/drought-supple...


Flowers

http://www.walterreeves.com/landscaping/drought-watering-flo...

lawns