3 Steps to Minimize Flood Damage in the Garden

If you’ve experienced a flood, a wrong move after the water recedes can make a bad situation worse. To get a garden back on track, take these steps.

IF you ’ve feel a alluvion , a wrong move after the water recedes can make a bad position worse . To minimise flood tide damage in the garden , take these steps :

1.Identify the survivors

Most plants , with the elision of seedlings and new graft , can take flooding for up to a week . When standing water lasts longer , however , problems can occur . stand water keeps air from reach a plant ’s roots , and without O , plants drown .

If leafage looks limp days after the water recedes , the industrial plant will in all likelihood die due to root harm . hold off to tailor down a tree that looks deadened , however . Its canopy may flick out the following bound , a sign that the tree is recover .

2.Manage high salt levels

briny water personate additional threats . After the floodwater fall behind , the salinity left behind can suck moisture out of the industrial plant ’s root and keep them from taking up H2O . To let down your soil ’s atomic number 11 level , give plants 1 to 2 inch of bracing water supply per hebdomad for roughly two calendar month and go for gypsum , which detach common salt from soil particles . Your local annexe nerve centre can help you set how much gypsum to use . Continue to irrigate as often as you’re able to ( without causing another flood ) , and be aware that excess salt in the grunge may harm next salt - sensitive works .

Freshwater floods can also increase the amount of sodium in your soil , although to a less grade . After any flood situation , it ’s best to lie off plant food for a month . This praxis allows pelting and irrigation to renormalize salt tier and gives plant metre to recover before directing energy toward developing new growth .

3.Fix soil compaction

Days of standing body of water will compress the dirt . Aerating your turf and garden can help alleviate the situation . Also consider tilling 2 to 3 in of compost into the soil to tease apart the solid ground and prepare it for planting . Just be sure to let the filth dry out first ; digging in too quick after a flood will harm the soil ’s structure .

Jeff Gillman , author ofThe Truth About Organic Gardening , is an associate professor of horticulture at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul .

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