Not only do we eagerly await the monsoon season, but our plants do too, as it is the best season for their growth. However, we might face some side effects such as fungus, ants, algae, and root rot in plants due to over-watering. In this situation, I will explain how to care roof garden plants during the monsoon. I’ll cover how to convert clay soil into well-drained soil, check the drainage system in your pots, and get rid of ants, fungi, and insects.
During rain, plants generally don’t face problems, but they can suffer from over-watering, which can cause leaves to turn yellow and other issues. By taking the following precautions, you can ensure that your plants remain healthy even after the rain.
Preventing Over-Watering
For container gardening, over-watering can be a significant issue during the rainy season, as pots cannot hold excessive water. Here are some tips to manage this:
Shift Plants to Shaded Areas
If you have only 4-5 plants, move them to shaded areas after 2-3 days of continuous rain.
Use a Green Net
If moving the plants is not feasible, cover them with a green net. This allows air and water to pass through, ensuring the plants still receive rainwater while preventing excessive water accumulation. Avoid using plastic sheets, as they can trap too much moisture.
Ensure Proper Drainage:
If you cannot use a green net or move the plants, focus on drainage. Ensure that if water enters from the top, it can also drain out from the bottom. Here’s how to achieve proper drainage:
Check Pot Drainage Holes: Make sure your pots have enough drainage holes to let excess water out.
Use Well-Draining Soil: Mix sand, perlite, or small gravel into your potting soil to improve drainage.
Elevate Pots: Place pots on pot feet or stands to prevent them from sitting in puddles of water. By ensuring your pots and soil are well-drained, you can prevent over-watering and protect your plants during the rainy season.
Check Well Drain Soil:
First, check the soil of all your pots, whether they are plastic, clay, ceramic, or any other material. Slowly water the soil and observe if it absorbs the water immediately. If it does, the soil is well-drained. If water stands on the surface, you need to improve the drainage. You don’t need to shift the plant into different pots and soil; you can modify the existing soil. Here’s how to do it:
Loosen the Soil: Carefully loosen the soil inside the pot as deeply as possible without disturbing the plants and their roots.
Remove and Amend Soil: Take out the loosened soil from the pot and mix in construction sand. You can get construction sand from any construction site or market.
Test Soil Drainage: After adding sand, test the soil’s drainage: Try to bind the soil in your hand. If it still binds together, add more sand. When the soil becomes slippery and no longer binds, it is well-drained.
Transfer Soil Back: Once the soil has the correct texture, transfer it back into the pot. By simply adding sand, you can convert clay soil into well-drained soil, ensuring better drainage and healthier plants.
Fill the Soil
When we fill the soil in the pot, fill it. Make sure there is no room left at the top. Normally we leave 2-3 inches of space from the top of the pot. This time we do not leaves space. During heavy rain, no matter how is your soil, water starts standing on the top of the soil. If you keep 2-3 inches of space from the top of the pot, it might lead to fungus and green algae.
Check Bottom Hole
Soil is well drained, it absorbs water. But whether water is coming out of the holes or not is very important. If water does not drain from the bottom of the pot, there are no benefits to well-drained soil. So, now give water until it drains out from the hole. Some people give little water daily which is wrong. This technique would moisten the soil around the pot’s outside yet turn the dirt underneath into stone.
Shift Succulents
Shift all the succulents inside the home they already have the optimum level of water stored inside them. They do not need much water.
Remove Plates
Give the plant water starting today until water comes out of the bottom opening. Also, make sure the bottom hole works properly. Sometimes roots, plastic, or anything else can obstruct the hole. So just inspect that hole. So, make sure your dirt is well-drained, and check to see if water is seeping out of the hole. I keep the pots on the plastic to prevent our land surface from becoming soiled. However, during the rainy season, we should remove them because they can injure the plant.
Raise the Level of the Pot
Maintain the plants on some stands. As a result, the water drains readily. If your pots are flat at the bottom or you are farming in grow bags, place them on any stone or anything that can raise their level.
Support the Plant
When the soil is damp, there is a higher risk of plant eruption. So, we ought to support them with a strong trellis.
Remove Bottom Leaves
When we fill our pot fully with the soil, the bottom leaves will get in touch with the wet soil continuously. These wet leaves might get infection and fungus. These leaves do not play any role in photosynthesis also, so you can remove them.
Remove Unwanted Weeds
It was too hot but in monsoon the temperature becomes moderator, the air has moister in it. As a result, all of the undesired weeds in the pots grow quickly. We need to eliminate these weeds from the roots, or they will grow in this season. And I have realized that weeds grow with tremendous speed because they extract all the nutrients of the plant. Hence, we ought to remove them.
Seeds Germination
At this period, seeds germinate quickly because moisture, temperature, and humidity are all favorable to seed germination. During this time, you can plant tomato, chili, brinjal, capsicum, and other vegetable seeds. Flowering and fruiting will occur in around 2-3 months.
Cuttings of the Plants
During the monsoon season, the temperature, humidity, and moisture conditions are ideal for growing plants from cuttings. Cutting off the plants allows them to grow appropriately and effortlessly.
Fertilizing the Plants
Give name cake fertilizer to your plants before the rain starts. It will act as p prevention for problems like fungus, ants, and insects. Rainwater has a good level of nitrogen. Plants will bloom naturally during the rainy season. So there is no need for any more fertilizer.
Fungicide & Pesticide Spray
There is another danger in monsoon which is the whole tree, tub, and soil are soaked in rainwater. As a result, the attack on the fungus will increase as the best insect attacks. Now we have to put two weapons on our hands to protect them from their hands. This will protect our trees like slopes.
1. Fungicide
During the rainy season, what fungicide sprays the tree?
Copper oxychloride fungicide is a capable tool for lemon tree cankers, dieback, and gummosis. The copper is in the 50% WP formation. This is a contact fungicide. It should be applied before the fungus attacks the tree to prevent Sooty Mold, Down Milldue, leaf Brown spots, leaves rotten, Early Bloide, root rotten roots. Apply 2 grams per liter of water. If the attack level is high, up to four grams of it can be mixed with 1 liter of water. In general, spraying for 15 days should be applied once a week during the monsoon.
2. Pesticide
The next weapon is a pesticide. The chemical composition contains 40% of profenophos and cypermethrin 4% EC. It is a touch and stomach pesticide. When it comes to the touch of it or in the stomach, the insects die. It has also a Translaminar action. Mix one and a half to 2 ml of water per liter of water and spray the tree after 15 days. And this rainy season should be sprayed once a week. Do not mix any pesticides with this copper fungicide. If that is the case, apply pesticides 2 days before the fungicide spray.
