Plants + Heat

By Keven Pauling, Kevens Landscaping

IT’S HOT IN ARIZONA, and there is no way around that. Your plants and trees feel the heat stress too. This stress can be minimized with some simple tips in addition to proper maintenance.

Be sure the plants are getting enough water. Longer, deeper infrequent watering is much better than short superficial frequent watering. Trees always need longer water duration than shrubs. Personally I water trees four (4.0) hours every 7 days and two and a half (2.5) hours every 3 days for shrubs. Your schedule may need to be modified depending on the size and capacity of the dripper. Your landscaper should be a great help for specific recommendations!

Keep the foliage clean. I use a Gilmore® hose end 20 gal sprayer and mix 1 cup of liquid dish soap, 1 cup of antiseptic mouth wash (such as Listerine®) in the sprayer and fill the rest with water. Connect the hose and spray away all the dust and grime on the plant leaves. Do not spray or use this method during the hot part of the day; morning or evening is usually best. If you have white flies on your lantana or hibiscus, you can add 1 cup of tobacco “juice” to the dish soap and mouthwash before you fill the jar with water. This will kill the white flies as well as most garden bugs and clean the plants as well.

To make the tobacco juice, boil 2 cups of water in the microwave and stir in 1 BIG pinch of leaf tobacco like Red Mans® or Levi Garret®. Let it cool. Pour 1 cup of this nasty “tea/Juice” into the soap and mouthwash mixture and you’ll be ready to get rid of those garden bugs! If you don’t use the whole jar at once save it and you’ll have some for next time. Just disconnect the hose and store it in the garage.

Do not fertilize during the heat. The few exceptions are for annual flowers. You should use Miracle Grow® every 2 weeks. It’s ok to use Miracle Grow® to spur the growth of a sickly plant. Use it every 2 weeks until the plant looks better.

When spot spraying weeds with Round-Up®, don’t forget to mix approximately 2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap in with the Round-Up®. By doing this, the weed killer will work better and faster.