Current Drought Status

Even after getting ½ inch of rain at home Saturday night, I’m finding the soil dry 36 hours later! 

The spring rains moved most of Chatham from Severe to Moderate Drought in late April.  Throughout NC, the areas affected by Extreme or Severe Drought slowly shrank until about the end of May.  But since the first week of June the areas of drought have begun to increase again.  Areas in northeast Chatham that were “abnormally dry” on June 3 were back in the Moderate Drought category a week later. 

It doesn’t take a PhD in horticulture to have noticed that the heat wave of early June has made its demands on water use among plants.  Unfortunately, the soil reserves that we have learned to depend on are still depleted.  That explains why with more than average rain through the spring we were still considered to be in a drought.  Drought classification includes not only rainfall and reservoir levels but other indicators such as stream flow and groundwater. 

Estimates vary; but about this time of year on a regular basis, water consumption from community water systems usually increases by nearly 50%.  About a third of the water being used in the summer would seem to be from activities we don’t pursue in cooler seasons – washing cars, children playing in sprinklers, watering gardens and lawns, taking more showers, etc.   

Gardeners are caught between Scylla and Charybdis.  Maybe the metaphor is not completely appropriate; we have no whirlpool!  But we have to choose between how carefully we attend to the water needs of plants and how carefully we conserve water.  I can’t predict the future and don’t know when it will rain or how much.   

I can tell you something about the best ways to water plants.  In general, saturate the entire root zone, and then allow the surface to dry down before you water again.  Growing fruits and vegetables requires a lot more attention to detail.  There is a difference between plant survival (doesn’t die and will leaf out again next year) and plant performance (looks great, matures fruit, and sets buds for next year’s flowers).  Drought is not good for plants, but some can survive it quite well.  

There is more on how to water in the newsletter Green Thumb Prints soon to be in your mail boxes and already available online at http://chatham.ces.ncsu.edu/files/library/19/GTPSummer2008.pdf  

For more information of the drought status in North Carolina, see the drought monitor at http://www.ncdrought.org/.  There you can search the archives, FAQs, and a other drought related topics. 

For more information designed to help you deal with current drought conditions, see Extension’s 2008 Drought Information at http://www.ncdrought.org/  

Lawn managers may want to try the Turf Irrigation Management System (TIMS) at http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/tims/.  TIMS was designed to help you calculate and track irrigation use.  You will need to initially enter some information about your lawn and irrigation equipment.  After that it tracks rainfall and temperature at nearby weather stations to predict how much water is being lost to transpiration and how much you need to replace.  The designers believe that by using the system for a few weeks you can reduce irrigation by 25% without sacrificing lawn quality.     Finally – the time to conserve water is when you have some, before the reservoirs are depleted. alcooke   

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Al Cooke

Extension Agent, Horticulture

Chatham County Center, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

N C State University

PO Box 279, 45 South Street, Pittsboro, NC  27312

Phone: 919.542.8202; Fax: 919.542.8246

email: al_cooke@ncsu.edu  

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/staff/acooke/home.html