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California Gardening

over flooding- help!

firefightrsflame

15 years ago

Okay so updated from my "yellowing" post...we found a BIG issue with our drip line. It came lose and husband can't remember when he last checked it. So therefore I have no idea how long this has been going on. My guess is the last 3 weeks is when I've really noticed something not quite right out there. But we've had hot and mild weather back and forth and my fault for assuming that's all it was. But we found today that the drip line came unscrewed. Easy fix thank goodness.

Anyway, I turned off the water 3 days ago when hubby first came home not knowing what was going on but suspecting overwatering. Today I checked soil with a moisture meter and most everywhere is reading "moist" to "wet" depending on where I test, etc. So, my question is at what poit is the acceptable level where I can safely turn water back on? Doesn't the soil need to dry somewhat then water? I am thinking in 2 days test it again to see what reading I get. We have a clay soil. I had someone tell me today I can use regular dish soap to help the water percalate. But shouldn't I let it dry out a bit more if there is saturation in there now before trying the dish soap?

I am so afraid of losing my plants and palms back there. Once everythign is back on it's regular schedule should i apply a light fertilizing to help gain some nutrients back?

THANKS and sorry so long.

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Comments (3)

hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
15 years ago
Your plants will probably be happier with the extra water, unless they are native plants or cacti. When it cools down a little you will probably get a huge spurt of new growth on everything. Right now with this recent intense heat the excess water probably did them more good than harm. The biggest damage will likely be to your water bill.

Leave it unwatered probably a couple of weeks, but start checking the soil after a week.

If you have clay soil you won't lose that many nutrients, but fall is a good time to fertilize. Very sandy soil is what loses nutrients rapidly, not clay. Wait for the first autumn rain storm to fertilize.

Keep your dish soap for the dishes.
firefightrsflame
Original Author
15 years ago
hoovb- Thanks for the info. It makes me feel a bit better.

Why was the dish soap offered as a suggestion anyway? I had never heard of it but, again, I am a garden novice. I've been quite puzzled by it!

Today I went to check out everything and according to the moisture meater all plants are registering at the dry mark. Today is day 4.
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The problem with overwatered clay soil is that clay soil has tiny pores between the soil grains. These can easily fill with water, preventing oxygen from diffusing into the soil. Plant roots need oxygen and most plants (except wetland plants) get the oxygen the roots need from the soil, so a saturated soil can suffocate the roots. This can happen in any soil, but is more likely in clayey soils. So, the danger of overwatering in clay soil is saturating the soil and suffocating roots. Three weeks is long enough to do damage.

So, what to do? I'd just wait until the soil dries out a little and resume regular watering. Overcompensating by underwatering won't help. I think unless you had low-lying parts of the garden where water collected, the damage is probably restricted to the area immediately beneath the leak, if in fact there is any damage at all. If a plant had all or most of its roots die from saturated, anoxic soil, you'll probably see it wilt even when the soil is moist and there will be nothing you can do to save the plant. If your plants have survived a couple of weeks without dying, I think they're probably OK.

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