REQ: Heatwave Maintenance Tips

[Lot 112]

So.Cal is experiencing a triple digit heatwave. My Nigra is full sun & I've noticed that the leaves are curling up & the leaves have brown tips.

Is there anything I can do the lessen the severity of the temperature's effect on the Nigra?

[movenosound]

Here in central Washington we have been in the 90's and have broken 100 quite a few times. We have been watering three times a day, and I have been setting the sprinklers to provide more 'misting' action as well. I hear that bamboo loves humidity and especially loves a good misting on the severely hot days. Making sure that you have at least 2" of mulch over your beds should help keep them moist as well.

[marcat]

Mulch and more mulch. I would do more than two inch four at least. If they have the water to draw on they should be able to handle the heat. This is from a Texan and we know heat. Thats why were are restricted to what runners we can grow but nigra seems to like it if it has enough moister around its roots.
MarCat

[ghmerrill]

Our temps have been HOT HOT HOT and are just going to be more of the same. I spent several hours yesterday looking over and watering boos. The ones that have a thick later of mulch, 4 or more inches, didn't need water- the ground under the mulch was prefect. I use grass clippings and wood chips in alternating layers, as I get them.

[needmore]

Been pretty hot and pretty dry here, most of my bamboo is un-mulched but I have not had to water any in-ground plants yet - I guess that is one benefit of our constant high humidity. I did transplant some Fargesia that were under a very tall tree canopy and the trees took all of the soil water so those were suffering for sure but not in their new spot.

It has been more or less 86-92F here since early May with just a few exceptions, night temps rarely below 70F. The humidity has been in the 55%-70% range during this on sunny days but days in the 75% - 85% range on days where it rained near us but not here - those classic foggy/hazy days we get but more this summer than I can remember - heck, it's like I've been in St. Louis except St. Louis has been worse of course.

I'm not too familiar with those 100ish days and low humidity, I bet you have to water in-ground stuff a lot!

[stevelau1911]

I think spraying the groves for a few minutes at a time ensuring that the whole area is soaked would be a good start. In the beginning of July, there was around a 2 weeks span of days with absolutely no rain and temperatures hanging around 90F on most days so I had to give my groves a good soaking 3 times in that time-frame which was still probably not enough since there was hardly any rhizome growth.

In the past week, there has been over 5 inches of rain and I have noticed almost an instant increase in rhizome/whip shoot activity. I don't mind having droughts once in a while since it is usually sunny and warm in that time frame and it is pretty easy to water them. Droughts also don't last long here. I'm just glad that it is not a cold summer like 2009.

[Mackel in DFW]

Reporting from Texas:

NIgra can handle the heat pretty well, though mine has gone into survival mode after being in the ground for one year. With no watering this year, and a very small organic dose of fertilizer early in the spring, it has shed most of the seriously burnt out leaves it had when it came from the grower, replacing them with darker, much less burnt foliage. However, it has thinned out (leaf total) quite a bit with the neglect. It has no mulch on it, it's really been poorly treated but it lives.

I have read and also observed, that nigra is extremely sensitive to the type of water and the type of fertilizer you put on it, some sort of sensitivity to salts. My henon, also a nigra, which I have occasionally watered with our hard municipal water, has noticeably less leaf burn this year under a careful with the nitrogen and water, organic approach as well.



Regards,
Mackel in DFW

[ghmerrill]

Been pretty hot and pretty dry here, most of my bamboo is un-mulched but I have not had to water any in-ground plants yet - I guess that is one benefit of our constant high humidity. I did transplant some Fargesia that were under a very tall tree canopy and the trees took all of the soil water so those were suffering for sure but not in their new spot.

It has been more or less 86-92F here since early May with just a few exceptions, night temps rarely below 70F. The humidity has been in the 55%-70% range during this on sunny days but days in the 75% - 85% range on days where it rained near us but not here - those classic foggy/hazy days we get but more this summer than I can remember - heck, it's like I've been in St. Louis except St. Louis has been worse of course.

I'm not too familiar with those 100ish days and low humidity, I bet you have to water in-ground stuff a lot!

I can only imagine what it must be like to get water from the sky in the summer!
I don't envy you the humidity thought....a nice 30% is enough for me! When you sweat, its supposed to evaporate, not water the patch of lawn you are standing on.
Last couple of days have been hot, but today is brutal, about 105 today, and its only supposed to drop down to 60 tonight, which makes it miserable. Much nicer when the night temps hit 50!

[needmore]

It is currently 1:20 AM and it is 79F with 87% humidity. Has not rained all day but we are supposed to get storms very soon. In this weather your clothes get soaked with sweat in a matter of minutes and that helps to keep you cool but I generally have to take 2-3 showers and change clothes multiple times. This is why we get that black sooty gack on the canes.

This afternoon the BIG flys were in rare form, I was trying to thin a Bissetii grove but they love this weather and were relentless - these guys are about 1/2 the size of my thumb and they wait until you have your hands full. I had to keep dropping my tools to kill them - killed a couple of dozen but was bit way too often. Do you have these little darling insects there? I envy your cool nights, the air conditioning has been on uninterrupted here for weeks, too hot at night to even open windows.

[va_highlander]

This afternoon the BIG flys were in rare form, I was trying to thin a Bissetii grove but they love this weather and were relentless - these guys are about 1/2 the size of my thumb and they wait until you have your hands full. I had to keep dropping my tools to kill them - killed a couple of dozen but was bit way too often. Do you have these little darling insects there?

Horse flies?

[foxd]

The big storm that was heading our way last night, dissipated. I guess I water plants today.

[dudley]

currently 83 degrees here with 82 percent humidity.
the weather guessers love to remind us that it "feels like" 98 degrees.
by 3:00 it should be 94 degrees and 79 percent humidity. "feels like" will be well into the 100's.
even with the AC on i start to sweat while still toweling off from my shower.
only "Dr. Bronners peppermint pure castile soap" brings a few minutes of relief.
it really makes you feel like the york peppermint patties claim you will.
(standing on tall wintery mountain, etc.)

[needmore]

The big storm that was heading our way last night, dissipated. I guess I water plants today.

A blow to my psyche...I checked the radar at 2:30 this AM saw that huge front just west of us, no way it can miss, went to bed expecting to hear storms - not a freakin drop. 3 hours watering pots yesterday and another 3 today it looks like. Dang.

I used to call the big things horseflies but someone told me they were larger than horse flies, they are cattle flies. I do not know what they are but big, relentless and hungry. The deer flies are plentiful but tiny, the 'green eyes' are larger and nasty biters, these are even larger but do not have the green eyes.

[ghmerrill]

Our next rainfall will be mid october sometime, and its been a few weeks since, so it does get a bit dry. The saving grace is the cool nights, which is the only reason the fargesias and borindas do well here.

We do have biting flies- horse flies and a smaller, more colorful version called deer flies, but not in any great numbers. Some mosquitos, if you are near stagnant water, and the occasional rattlesnake- but no chiggers, so maybe that's a trade off!

[Alan_L]

...those classic foggy/hazy days we get but more this summer than I can remember - heck, it's like I've been in St. Louis except St. Louis has been worse of course.

Hey, the humidity gets down into the 50's sometimes! We have been getting rain, so I'm glad for that.