When a plant becomes waterlogged and dies, it actually dies of dehydration. When the roots are submerged in water they get no air. When the roots get no air they die. But when the plant loses its roots it has no way of drawing up water into the plant to replace the water lost in transpiration from its leaves. Hence it dies from dehydration. That is why over-watered plants wilt in the same way as those that have not been watered enough, and it is difficult to tell which is the problem This is why plants need soil that allows little pockets of oxygen to co-exist with the root system i.e. a loose well draining medium For example ... plants can in fact grow in water if the water is kept oxygenated .... hydrophonics uses this principle Now ... what do you think of that? (personally I didn't know all this until a day or so ago, but I thought it was logical and true so I share it with you :))
interesting question!i know that natural habitat of jm is mountain near small river, i presume that maples die if overwatered in lowland..
It is also important to consider the root rot fungi that contribute to this as well. Phytopthera (sp?) and others feed on roots in the soil constantly, but when excess water is present they spread significantly faster by spores which causes a rapid decay of the root system. This is actually more common than pure drowning IMO.
Sometime people in this forum should venture over to the UBC Citrus forum and spend some time reading up on why oxygen is so important in our soils, in our potting soil mixes and why waterlogged soils and soil compaction problems are some of our biggest nemesis to deal with in Citrus and Maple growing culture. We do not see too much water mold or dry rot issues with soils that have lots of aeration to them. There are several posts on CHC in the Citrus forum that provide some of the best insight online, mostly from Millet, as to why and how CHC can be a rather important, revolutionary in its own right, soil amendment for our potting mixes for growing palmatum type Maples. I have some issues with the CHC as to how well it will hold up in very warm and dry growing conditions and what changes we may have to make to better accommodate the usage of it. Then again I like using liquid forms of fertilizers only during the hot Summers for my container plants and herein is why I would want to experiment a little with the CHC hand mixed and added in with my soil mixes for Maples. It may seem outlandish but I sense we in Maples may be able to get a longer term benefit from the CHC than many of the Citrus growers will. We may have Maples grown long term inside a greenhouse again because of it.. Jim
