Question of the Week
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My new plants and even old ones have scalded leaves. What can I do? And, how often should I water new plants?
We thank Angela Plunkett for her great tip on how to shade plants to prevent scalded leaves! Like all of us in the drought and extended heat, her new and even established plants were looking very fried.
New plants, especially, are not accustomed to being in the full sun, and so they may need to be acclimated in a sunny spot on your porch before you actually plant them in your yard.
But when they're already in the ground, Angela came up with a great idea to shield her plants. This is also a super technique to shade new seedlings or transplants you want to start in heat.
She used black weed cloth and attached it to posts to create shade for the burning plants.
At first, she did what we all do: hit the shed for ideas! She tried old tiki torches and hooked the cloth to that. Well, if you've ever used tiki torches you can guess what happened-- the wind blew those out of the ground pretty quickly. So then Angela tried some bamboo sticks, with pretty much the same result.
Then, she got some steel bars, borrowed from her neighbor, and used old sturdy clips to attach her weed cloth. She'd tried bricks, but writes, "Even though there isn't much wind here, if you attach material to a post, it will act like a flag and start blowing!"
Within a few days, they were all back on track. And, although you can use just about anything to shade a plant, her solution blends nicely with the front of the house. Thanks, Angela!
How often to water new plants? That depends on several factors, not the least of which is the weather. New plants have fewer roots, and so will need to be watered more often until they get established; probably every day for a while.
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