Protecting plants from heavy rain 🌩️🌧️
While the well-being of your trees and shrubs may not be of much concern during storms or other intense weather events, such as the recent Hurricane Florence, smaller plants can be easily damaged or even wiped out during inclement weather. Fortunately, smaller plants are easier to protect, so long as you take quick action to avoid storm damage to your garden or landscaping. Following are five ways to protect your native plants from thunderstorms and heavy rain.
Protect the Roots
A simple preventative measure is to protect the roots of your plants from weather damage by spreading mulch. A 3-inch layer around the root area will protect the plant from cold damage following heavy rain. Just keep the mulch at least 3 inches from the plant’s foliage.
Coverage
Cover your plants with overturned pots, bowls, buckets, or other appropriately-sized containers to keep them from suffering wind and rain damage. Be sure to weigh down the coverings in order to hold them in place–rocks, cement blocks, and bricks will work just fine.
Wrapping
Wrapping certain plants in a strong fabric, such as burlap, will protect them from the elements. For larger plants, vines, and shrubs, wrap the plant in burlap and tie with heavy twine, using garden stakes to make a frame where necessary. For newly planted trees, at least the trunks should be wrapped in a similar manner, though the frame should be made from posts about a foot taller than the tree to ensure protection from heavy winds. Wrapping the entire tree will protect it from cold weather.
Row Covers
Using a heavy row cover, or frost blanket, will help protect rows and beds of smaller plants from storm damage. With this method, it is important to leave extra room on either side of the row cover and weigh it down tightly before a major storm.
Anchors
Trees and shrubs that have been newly planted stand to take a lot of damage during a driving storm. These plants should be anchored using 2 to 3-foot stakes pounded about 20 inches into the ground. Stakes should be angled away from the plant before twine is tied to the plant and attached to the stakes.
