Water the leaves if you want to yo

_posts/2017-10-01-dont-water-the-leaves.md

@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "Don't get water on the leaves"
+tags:
+- opinion
+- croyfamilyfarms
+- garden
+---
+
+
+"For vegetables, your best bet is to get some drip lines 'cause you don't want
+to get water on the leaves" said the helpful employee at a local farm supply
+store. I have heard this "advice" *numerous* times over the past few years, and
+it gets a little deeper under my skin each time I hear it. Like most advice
+handed out in this fashion, there's a kernel of truth hiding somewhere behind
+layers of indirection associated with such old wive's tales.
+
+As I mentioned in my [last gardening related
+post](/2017/09/13/growing-tomatoes.html), I am certainly not an expert, but I'm
+also not a novice. Therefore take what I'm about to tell you as nothing more
+than a pile of supposition from lots of reading and years of experimentation.
+
+The nugget of fact behind "don't get water on the leaves!" comes down to, at
+it's most basic level, avoiding scenarios which might promote fungal or mildew
+growth on plant leaves. That said, **leaves are meant to get wet**, in fact,
+most leaves helpfully channel water to the root system of the plant. This past
+season, I marveled at how perfectly the ridges in the okra leaves bowed and
+dripped water directly into the root zone. However, if leaves _remain_ wet,
+that can promote the growth of crop-destroying fungi and mildews.
+
+
+The most common affliction most home-gardeners will likely recognize would be the
+ever-spiteful **powdery mildew**. Powdery mildew can spread from leaf to leaf
+and demolish an entire crop. At the end of the summer season, my friend's
+pumpkin patch has been nearly entirely obliterated by powdery mildew. The
+blight has destroyed leaves up and down the vines and even spread to some
+pumpkins in the patch. Words cannot quite describe the nauseating sight of a
+20lb pumpkin which been engulfed with the chalk-like green of the mildew.
+
+I can state with confidence that my friend definitely was spraying water all
+over the leaves of that pumpkin patch. I can also state with confidence that
+simply spraying "water on the leaves" was _not_ the cause of his mildew
+problem.
+
+Some key contributing factors to fungal and mildew growth can be:
+
+* **Splash-back**: spores can remain dormant in the soil for _years_, and using
+  a high-pressure hose which splashes water and soil _up_ onto the plant, can
+  be a big contributing factor to growth. In my experience, this usually takes
+  the form of mud splashing back onto the bottom of leaves, giving the spores a
+  nice hiding spot to germinate and start ruining things.
+* **Tainted soil**: if a patch, or an adjacent patch, becomes contaminated with
+  spores, the next season you simply cannot plant the same plants there.
+  Plantings should be rotated anyways, but if an area with squash/gourds becomes
+  contaminated with any fungus, I wouldn't plant squash/gourds anywhere near it
+  for at least a few years.
+* **Low-wind/stagnate air**: areas where the soil stays moist, with stagnate
+  air, can also foster ideal growing conditions for mildews. Anecdotally
+  speaking, I have _only_ ever seen mildew in garden plots which have
+  little-to-no cross-wind. Plots whose air is especially stagnate during the hot
+  summer months which have low-wind conditions. The stagnate air means the soil
+  is going to dry-out slower and the air above the soil will remain more humid;
+  a perfect environment for mildew.
+* **Keeping leaves wet overnight**: as the air cools, it's ability to accept
+  moisture lowers. In essence, it takes much longer for water to evaporate at
+  night than during the day. Generally this is why many people will water their
+  plants at night, but allowing leaves to remain wet for long periods of time can
+  also be risky. In west Sonoma county, due to on-shore flow, it's typically
+  more humid at night which can make evaporation that much slower. The longer
+  the leaves remain wet, the more vulnerable they can be to fungal growth.
+* **Specific plants**: as alluded to before, squashes/gourds (summer squash,
+  zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin, and other gourds) can be particularly
+  susceptible to powdery mildew. Tomatoes can also suffer from a number of
+  leaf-curling blights. Depending on the conditions of your garden, some plants
+  might not have what it takes to survive in a specific spot, or the location
+  in general. This doesn't just come down to
+  likelihood of blights, fungi, and mildews, but also pollinators, soil quality,
+  wind, and sun.
+
+
+Much of gardening is simply providing an environment in which the plant you're
+growing will have it's best success. Unsurprisingly, most plants want to live.
+Your job as a gardener is to ensure the most suitable conditions for the plant
+to succeed, without enabling other naturally occurring organisms (fungus,
+mildew, weeds, etc) an opportunity to themselves succeed.
+
+It's not just as simple as "don't get water on the leaves!" Which, said alone,
+is such simplistic advice you might as well treat it as a pleasantry like "have
+a nice day!"
+
+Smile, nod, and on your way out the door respond with a hearty "you too!"