looking after young plants in blazing sunshine

Evening all.

Yesterday, the wife and I planted out maybe a couple of hundred young plants that we've grown from seed. Naturally I watered them in, and have watered thoroughly several times since planting out, but still many of them look quite upset by their ordeal. I watered with the can rather the hose, and aimed for the soil at their bases rather than washing the leaves away under a torrent of water.

Will they perk up do we think? Or did I make a mistake planting out on one of the hottest, driest days so far?

 

They should pick up in the next couple of days.
The weather is going to be a lot cooler over the next week or so!
What have you planted out ?

 

Sorry, clueless, I can sympathy ...

 

If only we had time to do things when plants like it but we don't. Probably a cooler,gentler day would have been their choice but....
Their instinct for survival will no doubt get them through that first shock. A bit like being born I suppose- it was so nice and warm in there!
I always prefer watering the ground than the plant,unless it's a pleasant evening then I find it relaxing and hypnotic, listening to all those water droplets. Same with houseplants - at the base is a good rule of thumb.
I am sure that all your seed rearing efforts will bring its own reward.

 

make sure that the soil is always damp untill they establish

I planted several small plants in a garden 2 weeks ago ... I've been watering every evening, as if I don't, no one else will

and, the next morning, the soil is bone dry

we need rain!

 

With young plants being shallow rooted, particularly bedding, hot weather is not there best friend, so they need to be watered at least once a day. I water mine after sunset when there is least chance of leaf scorch and the ground holds the water with little evaporation.

Having said that I have a sandy soil which 'drinks' water. I have two young trees that I planted three or four years ago, that still suffer during dry spells. Luckily I'm not on a hosepipe ban, so this evening I left it to run at their base for a good soaking. The same applies to young shrubs.

 

Thanks all for the reassurances.

Loads of leaf beat, a few runner beans, an a load of annual flowers that wife grew so not sure what they are but I remember that nicotiana was one of them.

 

Bit late now I'm afraid, but my method is to water the hole, then put the plant in.

First I make sure that the plants are well watered - I stand them in a deep tray of water whilst they are waiting to be planted - I want the rootball properly wet.

I use a bulb planter, which is just a shade larger than the 9cm pots that I raise my seedlings in. I make a series of planting holes, fill them with water from the can - by the time I have filled the last one the first has drained away. I then put the plants into the holes (scoop some of the "mud" out if the hole has collapsed) and push some dry soil back around them. I plant them in a slight depression - so that any rain, or when I water them, will run towards the plant. I then generally don't water again for a week. The theory is that the plant is in a wet/damp hole, with plenty of water underneath it. The roots will grow down to find that water.

If you water the surface, particularly if you do "little and often", the surface will be damp, and that will encourage the roots there - but that top 1/2" will dry out during the heat of the day, and the roots will suffer, whereas roots that grow deep will not have the same peaks-and-troughs of moisture, and you should then water "plenty" so it soaks down to the roots (evening is best so that the water doesn't evaporate in the heat of the day) and then not water again for a while - I water once a week normally, twice a week in very hot weather.