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Ozone can be stressing your garden

Hot, smoky conditions create dangerous pollutant levels

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 7, 2020

These pictures compare a normal tulip tree leaf
and one exposed to too much ozone.

(Photos courtesy National Park Service)

Smoky skies and record heat make gardening -- or just about any outdoor activity -- intolerable right now. Usually our gardens cope better with these conditions than we do; they can filter out the pollutants and conserve their resources.

But the air is so bad now, even plants are feeling ill effects.

Today (Monday) will be the 22nd consecutive Spare the Air Day for the Bay Area -- and the greater Sacramento region, a record for this current streak of poor air quality. Driving, operating gas-powered equipment, barbecuing and other activities are discouraged (if not prohibited).

The past few days that bad air has been accompanied by excessive heat, creating a ground-hugging layer of ozone. That's making our eyes water -- and our plants suffer.

Ozone is created by a combination of wildfire ash and other pollutants (usually nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds), intensified by bright sunlight and triple-digit heat. It can prevent a plant's leaves from properly doing their job. Ozone enters the leaves' stomata and burns the leaves' tissue.

Signs of ozone damage include dark stippling and bleaching of foliage. Plants lose their vigor and stop blooming or yielding fruit. Ozone damage weakens the plant and makes it much more susceptible to pests and disease.

Worried about the long-term effects of too much ozone, researchers and the National Park Service surveyed plants in national parks across the country and found hundreds of species with ozone sensitivity, from ash and asters to sycamores and yarrow. Maple, cherry, poplar and plum trees are all on the ozone-sensitive list. Find it here: https://irma.nps.gov/NPSpecies/Reports/Systemwide/List%20of%20Ozone-sensitive%20Species

What can you do to help your plants cope? Keep them hydrated. Offer them some afternoon shade. Wash ash and soot from leaves.

And continue to "Spare the Air." These smoky conditions are expected to last at least through Wednesday.

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Keywords:

gardening Sacramento heat ozone damage trees heat wave air quality heat stress leaves

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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