Signs your plants need water

Home Gardening Basics

Water stress is one of the easiest problems to misread. Too little water and too much water can look surprisingly similar because both affect the roots.

Leafy crops like lettuce, spinach, and Swiss chard show thirst quickly. Their leaves lose structure and look flat or tired. Cucumbers are also dramatic. Their broad leaves may droop deeply in afternoon heat, even when soil moisture is fine.

Deep-rooted plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and established berries can handle short dry spells better, but uneven watering causes problems. Tomatoes are especially sensitive when moisture swings from very dry to very wet. That pattern can lead to cracked fruit and blossom end rot, a condition linked to calcium movement in the plant, often made worse by inconsistent watering.

To read your plants' water needs well, use both your eyes and hands. Push a finger into the soil near the plant, not right against the stem. If the soil feels dry two inches down, water deeply. If it feels damp, wait and check again later. For containers, lift the pot if possible. A dry pot feels much lighter than a well-watered one.

Water deeply and less often for most vegetables and fruit plants. Shallow sprinkles train roots to stay near the surface, where they dry out faster.

A plant that needs water often shows the following: (Drop Menu)

• Limp, drooping leaves

• Dry soil below the surface

• Leaf edges that feel crisp

• Slow growth during warm weather

• Small or misshapen fruit

• Flowers that drop before setting fruit