How to protect plants and plantings from the heat

Here are some tips to help you grow a good crop even in hot summers.

Ventilate greenhouses: the yield of cucumbers and tomatoes will be higher

This is a mandatory rule to protect plantings from the heat, because in greenhouses, due to the greenhouse effect, the temperature is even higher than outside. And excessive heat is harmful to plants. For example, tomatoes already at a temperature of 30-32 ° C are inhibited in growth, their pollen becomes sterile, the flowers fall off without setting fruit (1).

And in closed greenhouses it can be too humid, and excess moisture for tomatoes and cucumbers is useless – it leads to outbreaks of diseases. Therefore, blowing must be ensured to the maximum. Do not close the windows and doors in greenhouses and greenhouses, let everything be open – the night temperature does not drop so low that the air is supercooled.

By the way, if tomatoes in greenhouses are poorly tied, excessive humidity can also be to blame – under such conditions, pollen becomes loose, does not get enough sleep from pollen bags, and as a result, ovaries do not form.

Therefore, be sure to ventilate the tomato greenhouse and shake the bushes slightly once a week. After you shake the bushes so that the plants are pollinated, carry out moisturizing watering and briefly close the windows. It is better to do this from 12.00 to 14.00.

In borage, it is best to do drip irrigation with your own hands: make a few holes in the cork of a 1,5 or 2-liter plastic bottle, and cut off the bottom of the bottle. Stick the bottle upside down in the greenhouse and pour water into it. It will slowly ooze out of the holes in the lid, providing the roots with the moisture they need while you plow at work.

Mulch the beds: you will have to water less often

Plants in the beds do not need deep, but frequent watering. If it is not possible to water the beds every other day, then on the weekend carefully spill the ground and mulch it well, for example, with mowed, well-dried grass, peat, compost – this will help protect the plants from the heat.

“I often water even during the day, although I understand that this is wrong,” says Andrey Tumanov, chairman of the Union of Gardeners of Our Country. – But when you arrive in the afternoon, there is nowhere to go – you grab a watering can and go to the beds. The main thing then is to loosen the soil well and mulch it. So watering will last for a long time.

Drill wells under fruit trees to save water

“One of my acquaintances did very correct and, most importantly, economical watering: in the heat, he drilled something like a well about half a meter deep at the roots of large trees and poured half a bucket of water into this well,” says Andrey Tumanov. – Along the perimeter of the crown, he drilled about 4 – 5 such wells. This helps to provide the roots of the plant with moisture for a long time and, most importantly, you do not need to pour too much water – half a bucket into each hole. Then cover this well with mulch so that the water does not evaporate. Such watering, even in the very heat, is enough for a long time, because the moisture does not evaporate, and the roots receive as much water as they need.

Scavenge: Extra Tip for a Healthy Garden

If the summer is wet, then, on the one hand, this is good – much watering is not required, on the other hand, expanse for fungal diseases. Especially moniliosis, which affects cherries and apple trees (2).

“Be sure to pick up carrion from the ground and bury it to a depth of at least 0,5 m,” Andrey Tumanov advises. – On the one hand, it is organic matter, on the other hand, fungal spores will not get out. Some say: and so it will rot. But at such moments I compare our garden with a hospital: if napkins, bloody bandages, syringes, disposable handkerchiefs are lying in the corridors, then such a hospital will become a breeding ground for various infections. In the meantime, we can leave our garden running. And then we wonder: why do my trees get sick? Prevention is the most important guarantee of health. Including plants and trees.

Popular questions and answers

We talked about how to care for plants in the hot summer with agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova.

Sources of

1. Gavrish S.F. Tomatoes // M.: NIIOZG, publishing house “Scriptorium 2000”, 2003 – 184 p.
2. Dobrozrakova T.L. Agricultural phytopathology, 2nd ed., corrected. and additional Edited by Khokhryakov M.K. // Leningrad, publishing house “Kolos”, 1974 – 382 p.