Never Trust Drip Emitters Immediately after Planting

Q. I recently planted three dwarf oleander in a raised bed planter. The planter was filled with organic compost and approximately 20” in height. I ran the drip irrigation system for 5 out of the first seven days and went back to check the plants in 7 days. The oleanders began to droop and I am now trying to determine is too little or too much water the reason. Many of the plants are now showing brittleness on the leaves.

A. Whenever you are planting in a fresh planter mix or even the soil, always add plenty of water at the time of planting. Never trust your drip system to do the initial watering that's needed. Do your initial watering with a hose. A volume of water applied to the soil all at once initially helps to saturate the soil and remove air pockets around the roots of the plant. And when it’s hot outside, make sure the soil in the hole is wet at the time of planting. If water is beading up along the surface of the soil

EZ Wet soil wetting agent for assisting hydrophobic soils absorb water faster.

than the soil is hydrophobic and it will need some help. Apply a wetting agent like EZ Wet to help the water move into this dry soil.Never plant anything into a dry hole and then water it in during the summer months.

Desert climates are not very forgiving. Transplant shock of plants can be a big problem in hot desert climates. Transplant shock is the interruption of growth, and sometimes plant dieback or death, when moved from a container into a planting hole.

Transplant shock can occur any time after a plant is purchased, transported, held for any length of time before planting and finally planted. Planting this time of the year can be rough on plants, particularly moving large ones growing in containers into the soil.

Seldom is transplant shock visible the first day after planting. It usually appears two to five days after the plant is put in the ground. Two big problems with manufactured soil mixes are high salt levels and the difficulty in wetting it. Many manufactured are hydrophobic - they are hard to wet.

Dry soils will damage plant roots. Soils that are exceedingly dry will pull moisture out of tender feeder roots of plants. This causes feeder roots to die. Feeder roots are responsible for most of the water and mineral uptake in plants.

Once they die, they must be regenerated by the root system. This takes time. Meanwhile the plant is sitting in 110°F temperatures and trying to lose water out of its leaves to keep itself cool. The result, we see leaf scorching, leaf death, sometimes dieback and even death.

What to do? Always plant into a wet hole. Once planted, flood the soil around the root system to reduce any potential damage from salts and excessive dryness. Flush the soil with water several times after planting to remove salts and settle the soil around the root system. If the soil does not wet easily, add a soil wetting agent to help the water moved into it more easily in the beginning.

When transplant shock occurs, recovery can take a couple of weeks to a month or more depending on what stage of seasonal development the plant is in and the degree of damage.

Oleanders grow rapidly in moist soils but can tolerate dry soils and drought but grow poorly under these conditions. They also have fairly good salt tolerance.

I would wait a couple of weeks and see what happens. Keep the soil moist around the plants but not sopping wet. I think it will grow back with few problems if you just give it some time.