How much water should i be giving my Queens and bananas through this heatwave? The high yesterday was 101F in my backyard, it hit 100F in many surrounding areas. We get a slight lull in temperatures today and tomorrow, with today having highs in the upper 90's and tomorrow the mid 90's. Tuesday we get upper 90's again, and then temperatures soar back into the 100's. My current NWS forecast is showing 102F on Wednesday, 105F on Thursday, and 101F on Friday. This is considered extreme heat, and given that the humidity will be lower than normal with nearly no rain chances in sight, i fear a rapid onset of drought conditions. I have not been hand watering yet this summer since we have gotten rain every few days to some extent, but now theres no possibility of rain until next weekend, and even then it's just scattered pop up storms. I suspect that ill need to flood the bananas every other day starting today. Im not sure about the Queens and other palms though, what would yall recommend?

Edited June 19, 20223 yr by JLM

Avoid getting the leaves wet. Water is like a magnifying glass and will burn foliage.

58 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Avoid getting the leaves wet. Water is like a magnifying glass and will burn foliage.

In high heat and under direct sunlight I believe the water would evaporate before doing any damage to the leaflets. 

4 hours ago, SeanK said:

Avoid getting the leaves wet. Water is like a magnifying glass and will burn foliage.

Absolutely correct ..Take it form someone who deals w/ this each and every summer.. When it is hot and dry, water in the morning ..or, even better,  after sundown..  Mid day? = asking for stuff to burn burn burn..  ..or cook roots ( stuff in pots )

 

I would not water bannanas or queens in the heat in AZ.  I used to hit my brahea armatas and bismarckias with some late day(near sunset) water and they liked it.  I found after growing palms for 10+ years in gilbert az that its the water hardness, that is the problem.  Yes evaporation of water cools leaves, but the salts left can dessicate them by the chemical driving force of the salt gradient across leaf membranes.  This will force water out of the soft non waxy leaf types.  Its the reason that salt water can dry out your skin.   This effect is worse if you do it mid day where it has several hours to accumulate salts and dry.  Watering late day near or after sunset is the way to go, more cooling less evaporation and overnight time absorb the water and recover from the day.  It also cools off the ground, especially if you have hardscape or are using granite rock as a ground cover.  Foliar water is fine for the waxy leaves near sunset. my armatas and bizzies loved it.  Any temps above 110F and dry(6-12%) relative humidity, I used to hit the waxy ones with sprinkler or hose water at or after sunset.  Everything with a non waxy leaf is no foliar water, hit the ground with water after sunset.  Waxy palms I grew included: bismarckia, chamaerops cerifera, phoenix sylvestris, brahea armata, sabal uresana.  I grew queens too, just dont use foliar water and make sure your soil pH is not too alkaline(Mn deficiency, frizzletop).  Waxy palms limit water flow out of the leaf and the wax layer keeps the salts further away from the water compartment in plant cell epidermis, thus dropping the chemical potential driving force.  How hard the water is could be a big factor, if the water is not hard, less severe issues will result.  If your drippers have white accumulations on them after a month, your water is probably hard.  Its important to undedrstand that in the desert you want to li9mit water loss in the leaves as much as possible, less sunif possible, less heat nearby(concrete), and no foliar watering on the green plants without wax.  I had a great experiment on roses in the heat early on in my 10 years there.  They die back a lot in the(late) dry spring, so I foliar watered them.  The leaves driued out with salts on them, you could see the dessication line in each leaf, brown on one side, greenish on the other but with obvvious salts.  I killed a few roses this way until I talked to a local who advised jusdt cut them back when it gets hot, they will be back in the fall/winter.    

What type of soil is it? I only water my viburnums in droughts during mid day. They need it in addition to evening watering. My bananas (blue java) only get part sun in boggy soil and I have never supplemental watered. I also water everything else at sunset during droughts + heat waves such as this to avoid burn. I have watered at sunrise if we are suppose to receive rain overnight but do not.

On 6/19/2022 at 11:32 AM, JLM said:

 upper 90's again, and then temperatures soar back into the 100's. My current NWS forecast is showing 102F on Wednesday, 105F on Thursday, and 101F on Friday. This is considered extreme heat, and given that the humidity will be lower than normal with nearly no rain chances in sight, i fear a rapid onset of drought conditions. 

JLM,

 

I spent 2.5 weeks in Santa ROSA BACK IN 2017 when the fires rolled through.  I was part of a strike team from Southern California fighting the fires.  We got there a day after the fires rolled through town.  Such devastation.  Praying we do not have a repeat this year.  Hoping all your plants make it through the heat this year!

 

12 hours ago, el-blanco said:

JLM,

 

I spent 2.5 weeks in Santa ROSA BACK IN 2017 when the fires rolled through.  I was part of a strike team from Southern California fighting the fires.  We got there a day after the fires rolled through town.  Such devastation.  Praying we do not have a repeat this year.  Hoping all your plants make it through the heat this year!

 

Sounds terrible. I remember seeing stuff about it on the news. Im actually in Santa Rosa County, Florida, which is in the northwestern part of the state. This kind of heat is rather unusual here.

Also, thank you for doing what you do! Gotta love our first responders!

Edited June 22, 20223 yr by JLM

@JLM I watered most of my stuff at 2:00 PM today out of curiosity. BoP, Bizzy, Sylvester, Vibunrum, Queen Emma, King Palm, Pink lemonade, Valencia Orange, Meyers Lemon…crunchy Bahia grass. Went back out and watered at 8:00 PM. Everything seems fine still. Forecast is showing T-Storms on Sat and every day there after for my neck of the woods. 

Edited June 22, 20223 yr by D Palm