Should I Worry About My Plants Dying After Too Much Rain?

How to save your plants from a heavy rainfall.

After all the rain Charlotte has received in the past few weeks, some novice gardeners or farmers might be concerned that their plants have suffered. How can you know how much rain is too much?

According to Pressly Williams of Renfrow Farms, if your plants sit in water for too long (after a flooding rain), they die because the roots can't get enough oxygen. However, Charlotte folks probably don't have to worry about the recent rainfalls.

COURTESY RENFROW FARMS

Williams says the several inches of rain that soaked Charlotte were slow and steady enough not to be much of a threat. Of course, it also depends on your soil. Of the recent rain, Williams recalls, "All of it soaked in because our soil is more loamy than it used to be." Loamy is a term used to describe soil comprised of about 40 percent sand, 40 percent silt, and only about 20 percent clay. Since North Carolina is known for its heavy clay soil, Williams does offer some advice helping your plants in areas with a high concentration of clay: "Heavy clay will become a mud puddle, but if you consistently add compost, then it will improve the texture of the soil and help it to improve both moisture retention in dry spells and drainage in wet spells."

If your garden bed or field is extremely wet, Williams has one other trick for you to use to save your plants. She says to simply scratch the soil to expose it to the air. Doing so will allow the sun and wind to dry out the soil more quickly, thus giving your plants a chance to breathe.