How to Increase Your Planting Success in the Summer Heat

When planting new plants, there are some key steps you can take to improve your plants ability to better tolerate the summer heat.

1. Choose the correct plants. When deciding which plants to install into your landscape, consider their watering needs before installing them and use that knowledge to choose the correct place to plant them. Always try and group plants with similar watering needs together. Upon fresh installation, your plants will need to be watered more than usual in order to become established. Remember, establishment means your new plants will need to put their roots out into your soil. You want to water deeply to encourage them to do this. By initially watering deeply, you will encourage your new plants’ roots to grow deeper and therefore become more drought-tolerant in the long run. Frequent, shallow watering only encourages fungal growth and shallow roots. An example of frequent, shallow watering is irrigation coming on every morning or evening for 15-20 minutes. This makes them less resistant to drought conditions. Deep watering can easily be achieved by hand watering. You don’t necessarily have to run your irrigation system for hours.
2. Amend your soil. South Florida soils are notorious for being comprised mainly of sand. Sand has virtually no water or nutrient holding capacity. This means that the water and/or fertilizer you apply will not stick around very long- quickly leaching through your soil layers. You can add amendments to your soil that will improve its ability to hold water and nutrients. We sell our Abell’s Mix soil, that contains a ready-to-use balance of ingredients plus a nutrient starter charge and beneficial bacteria- perfect for you to add into your planting areas. Please refer to our Installation Instructions for correct directions on how to do this. Use caution when buying “planting soil” or “potting soil” from other establishments. Soils that are too black and heavy often contain too much muck (100% decomposed organic matter) and can often keep your plants roots too wet when water is abundant or too dry (it will constrict and be difficult to re-wet) when water is less readily available. Soils labeled as “potting soil” are often very light mixes that will dry out rapidly and are almost impossible for you to keep moist enough to satisfy your plants' needs. In my opinion, one of the best things you can do to combat drought stress is amend your soil correctly.
3. Avoid the use of liquid fertilizers and choose a time-release/controlled-release one instead. When you use liquid fertilizers, it’s such a quick release of nutrients that plants take it up too quickly and will utilize it by pushing out very lush, too tender, new growth. This may seem like a good idea, but remember, South Florida has no dormant period. Plants grow year-round here. If you want your plants to have a healthy, long life, help them to grow strong by using a controlled-release fertilizer. Lush, new growth is extremely dependent on water because its stems and leaves grow so quickly and softly due to the quick rush of nutrients in the liquid fertilizer- they're not "tough" enough to effectively support themselves. Instead, choose a time-release/controlled release fertilizer that will release nutrients slowly to your plants so they are able to grow at a steadier rate thereby producing stronger, sturdier shoots and leaves. This will essentially give them the ability to withstand drought conditions more successfully.
4. Add mulch to your planting beds. By top-dressing with mulch, you are providing an insulation layer to help keep moisture in your soil where you want it. In addition, another great benefit is that as the mulch breaks down over time, the organic particles will make their way into your soil profile and add to the water and nutrient holding capacity that was mentioned earlier. Organic additions to your soil (in correct proportions) can help build a marvelous soil environment! Just remember to always keep mulch away from the stems of plants. Mulch should never touch the stems, this causes fungus and rot.