Q. Our Acacia and other
trees in our neighborhood in Mesquite, Nevada, have leaves that are turning yellow. Is this from all
the heat we’ve had or too much watering?
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| This is citrus but leaf yellowing accompanied by scorching of the edges is usually a good indicator the plant is not getting enough water. The solution is not to water more often but to give it more water when you do water.Scorching and yellowing of the leaves can also mean some salt problems. Salt problems can happen when plants aren't getting enough water. Flush the soil around the plant with high volumes of water a couple of times. |
A. This extended heat wave
requires you to water more often. But water long enough to wet the soil deeply. Avoid watering daily, particularly trees
and shrubs. It is not needed if you water deeply. It is better for the plants if you don't. Instead, increase the number of minutes so that
you can avoid watering every day.
Healthy plants can handle the heat. Leaf yellowing is not because of heat but because of
either dry soils or soils that are continually wet. Continually wet soils can
occur from daily watering. Watering desert adapted plants every day may cause
their roots to “suffocate” from too much water.
Watering less often, but with larger amounts of water,
forces roots to grow deeper and harvest water from greater soil depths.
Plants are lazy. Plants require more energy to harvest
water from deep in the soil than from the surface of a soil. If water is
applied to the surface every day, these lazy plant roots “slurp” up the surface
water and hardly touch the deeper water, if there is any.
If water can be found deep in the soil and the surface of
the soil begins dry, tree roots will be forced to grow and harvest water from these
deeper, wet soils. This deeper growth improves anchoring of the tree and
reduces “blow over” during high winds.
If you are going to
make a mistake when overwatering, make the mistake of giving the plant too much water rather than watering daily.
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