Wilting after a rainstorm?

19 years ago

I'm in Northern Virginia. We just had the longest stretch of no-rain days since it's been recorded (although I've been watering the vegetables every couple of days.)

That dry spell broke and for the last three days, there has been a steady soaking rain. Chard I pulled during the rain was very crisp, as expected.

Well the rain ended this morning around 9:00a. It's 3:00p and the sun is out. The chard and other plants are still wet from this morning's rain. AND THEY'RE WILTING?

It can't be from lack of water, since we got at least 1-1/2 to 2 inches. It can't be from over-watering -- everything's in a raised bed with custom built soil (Mel's Mix from SFG method.)

It's not that hot out (70's), although direct sun is on the plants for the first time in 3 days.

What could be going on?

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Comments (4)

User
19 years ago
Mid-NC here. Similar situation. I'd wait til you get some sun to "wake them up" before I'd freak out.

My remaining okra and basil was looking very sad this morning, but after nearly a day full of sun they're perking up. We've barely seen the sun the past 4 days and we've had 4" of rain in that time.

Nice to cut into the drought (20-24" still needed to come out of drought).
byron
19 years ago
Excess water can cause plants to drown.

Remeber 02 and C02 needs to reach the roots
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sequi
Original Author
19 years ago
The plants were actually acting the opposite of my expectations. I know that it was raining in the morning around 9am when I cut some chard. Everything looked crisp then. The next time I was out in the garden was 3:00p, and many plants (Chard, Bok Choy, spinach, multiple types of lettuce) were limp in the direct sun. Unaffected were strawberries, snow peas, and carrots.

By the evening, everything had returned to normal, although there hasn't been any more rain. Sunday during the day, the chard and the lettuce were still wilty, but the Bok Choy and spinach not so much. Again, everything recovered when the sun went down.

Maybe it's been doing this all along and I just haven't been home to notice it? I usually get to tend the plants only late evening or early morning during the week.

Last night we had our first light frost, and I haven't been out back to see how things fared. More frost is coming in the next few days.
paveggie
19 years ago
Sequi --sometimes it is like too much of a good thing. The roots can only absorb/adsorb moisture at a certain rate. The sun then causes the leaves to transpire faster than the plant moves the water, hence the wilting. As you saw, when the sun went down, the plants recovered somewhat as they weren't transpiring as much (and maybe the water movement was catching up a bit). Had the sudden rain been followed by a cloudy, still day, perhaps you would not have seen the wilting effect so much.

Just a comment on watering every couple days. Frequent waterings tend to promote shallow, weaker rooting. Less frequent (about once a week), but deeper watering with drier periods inbetween forces roots to go deeper. Then they are more able to sustain the plants if natural rains are scattered.