Wilt Question

[Mick7607]

My plants are in 15 gallon nursery type black containers. They are in good old garden soil amended with mushroom compost, chicken manure, and sand. When the plants are obviously thirsty, they take on that all too familiar wilt. Is this harmful to the plants, or, like some turfgrasses, beneficial in that it makes the roots grow deeper seeking water? The plants quickly return to normal after watering, but I wasn't sure if this short term water deprivation was good or bad. Your thoughts?

[GnomeGrown]

Hey Mick.

I would think that depriving your beauties of water would NOT be beneficial and may, in fact, harm their overall growth as well as contribute to BER.

That's my two cents from Columbia, SC.

[TightenUp]

this caused BER for me

[Mick7607]

I didn't mean to imply that I was purposefully depriving my plants of water: just hoping that my inattention had some silver lining. I concur that this can also contribute to BER.

Now that the rain has stopped and the heat has returned in upstate SC, I'm watering daily.

[GnomeGrown]

Supposed to be 95F here tomorrow and Thurs.

Had a few ripe toms split on me today because of all the rain.
on the plus side, I got to eat a ripe cherokee purple for breakfast today!

[Urbanfarmer]

Originally Posted by Mick7607

I didn't mean to imply that I was purposefully depriving my plants of water: just hoping that my inattention had some silver lining. I concur that this can also contribute to BER.

Now that the rain has stopped and the heat has returned in upstate SC, I'm watering daily.

No silver lining. All bad.