No snow: Time to water outside plants
Publisher’s note: This is one of a series of blurbs about how the lack of winter is impacting the Lake Tahoe Basin. If you have an idea, please email it to info@LakeTahoeNews.net.
Water plants in January? Yes, says gardening expert Carolyn Meiers.
This is because they are used to getting moisture throughout the year. And because that is not naturally happening this winter, the plants need people to turn on the spigot to keep them alive.
Meiers recommends people in Lake Tahoe — and other places that aren’t getting moisture this winter — to water shrubs and trees that have deep roots.
“It doesn’t apply to anything with snow or ice because that is protecting the plant,” Meiers told Lake Tahoe News.
Watering in the afternoon when things have warmed is the best time. Water what you care about and possibly the items that are going to be expensive to replace.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Yes, what an excellent idea. Since we’re in a drought and have no snow in sight, I can’t think of a better thing to do than waste our water to keep our garden looking nice. This is an incredibly irresponsible article LTN, shame on you.
Chill out – LTN is just passing along information from a garden expert. Some folks have catchment and grey water for this.
No Irish, I will in fact not chill out. Water scarcity is becoming one of the most pressing problems of our generation. I find it absurd to protect plants “that are going to be expensive to replace” when we have very serious water issues to deal with statewide. Our statewide agricultural crop will most certainly be expensive to replace in comparison to someone’s poor flower garden.
Not the first drought in the world, won’t be the last.
The problem is that California’s water system was designed for 12,000,000 people. There’s now 30,000,000 known living in the state and millions more illegal immigrants.
If you do have water for your plants, keep in mind that it will be fruitless to dump it on when the ground is frozen as the water cannot get to the roots. Not sure if there is enough thawing even in the middle of the day.
I think Aaron needs to realize that watering plants doesnt exactly “waste” water. Other than the water directly used by the plants and then respirated back into the atmosphere, the “excess” water drains into the water table. One or two mid-winter waterings will be a rather insignificant portion of one’s water budget. True wasting of water will come when water quality is impacted (as in polluted) and the water can no longer be used, whether it’s by plants, wildlife, or people.
I dont think anyone would argue that water supplies are an issue. But then again calculate how much water is being evaporated from the surface of Lake Tahoe – certainly no one is advocating a large plastic tarp or that we are at the point where we all need to cut bathing down to once a month? (well then again?)
Fairness would dictate everyone is entitled to a certain water budget. Want to water your plants and not feel guilty? Find a way to conserve in another area – one less car wash, shorter showers, repairing dripping faucets, etc. My obligation is not to waste or use more than some “norm” in conservation mode. Exactly how I use my water budget is not anyone’s else’s business. And keeping my landscaping green, attractive, and fire resistant might be one of them. Plus, if in fact you are implying that I can always re-purchase plants, think about how much water is used growing new ones and shipping to market, etc. It’s much more efficient to keep the ones you have alive. Same thing with even with lawns. All in all, there are a lot of connections here.
Although there are many ways to conserve water around the home, industrial processes and where we grow certain crops overshadow household consumption (for example,it takes about 80,000 gallons of water just to make the steel in the average car; and it takes twice as much water to make a plastic water bottle as the the water that ends up being sold in the bottle! and growing rice in CA, cotton in AZ??) So, if I am not one of those folks to buy a new car every year or two and I never buy bottled water, I don’t think I am going to feel guilty about watering my plants once or twice during the winter.
That is stupid advice for the mountains. No snow but the ground is frozen.
Aaron, SLT is awash in water. We have a huge aquifer that has hardly been depleted. Check it out with STPUD. Relax and enjoy our natural bounty.
Nice try ljames, but logic and science is beyond most anointed Sierra Clubers and others. But boy do they feel virtuous and superior.
“Our statewide agricultural crop will most certainly be expensive to replace in comparison to someone’s poor flower garden.”
This article is about deep rooted plants.
Good to see this in print. I have been meaning to do this for the last couple of weeks and have not gotten around to it. Soon as I post this I am going to get the sprinkler going. No it does not waste water. If anything, it waste energy to pump it. My water comes from Trout/Cold stream drainage. If it doesn’t get used, it goes to the Lake. If I use it outside, (not in my sinks or toilet which goes to Woodfords after STUPD gets done with it.) it will percolate through the DG and end up back in the water table or Lake.
Incidentally, I am not sure how much water evaporates off of the lake, but I do know that any body of water including your drinking glass will lose 1/10 of an inch per day. To calculate that in inches through out the year, that is approximately 36 inches per year are evaporated off of lake Tahoe.
suspicious-I agree thanks.
as for frozen ground do we or don’t we water? :)
I would think if the ground is frozen then there must be moisture in it and there is no need to water until it is thawed. Here where I live, the ground is bone dry and thawed. I am currently watering and I do not see it pooling anywhere and it is percolating just as it would when I water during the summer. This would probably be an indicator as to whether to water or not if I paid a few thousand dollars for a study.