Kansas City is under an extreme heat warning which means although “we” can get
indoors to avoid the heat your plants and grass have a much more difficult time. Without an outdoor air conditioner the only thing that can cool your plants down during the extreme heat is water. Make sure to water at the base of your plants during the day and not on the foliage. The water can actually burn some plants during daytime extreme heat. Most plants need water every other day and a deeper watering during extreme heat. Don’t start watering daily now if you haven’t been. Your plants will get used to it and always need to be watered daily. Plants need to be trained on where to get water from. You want the plants root structure trained for the long haul to get water from deeper in the soil, not from the surface. The only plants that need to be watered daily are plants in pots. If you “have” already been watering daily don’t pick right now during the heat to change. Start your training when it’s cooler weather when you can slowly get them used to every other day watering. It’s best to border on more than less water for now. Water everything for an extended period of time so the water can get deep into the roots.
Grass should be watered in early morning hours or late evening hours, even overnight is okay. It is best to not water in the heat of the day. Water on your grass can actually act as a heat conductor and burn the grass. You should already be training your grass to look deep into the soil for water by watering every other day. The only thing you might change is the amount of water you are using. The soil can dry out quicker during extreme heat. How long depends on your coverage but during this heat it is recommended your system is set to water 15 to 20 minutes every other day. Once again if you are already watering daily, don’t change. Wait for a cooler season to train the roots for every other day. Also, try to stay off your grass during the heat of the day. Extreme heat will stress the grass out and make it more vulnerable, especially if the soil is dry. Areas of high traffic will start to show with browning out and bare spots so stay off the grass if you can during the heat of the day.
Water and shade are the best things we can do for our plants at this point. Of course shade isn’t the easiest to provide unless it already exists so help your plants out with a little more water.
Lastly, if you need to trim your plants, do that in the morning, and don’t fertilize plants during the heat either. They just need left alone to battle the same heat we battle when going outdoors. Most of your plants are indigenous to this area and therefore used to dealing with our extreme weather so keep them watered and they should get through it.