Temporary Wilting Point

Water transpired by a plant exceeds that which can be supplied by water in the soil resulting in wilting of a plant. This can be common feature in some sports turf situations during hot, bright, and windy summer days, especially where root growth is limited or shallow. There can often be adequate available water within a soil, however, the rate of removal from the soil cannot keep up with the need to keep a plant cool and healthy during these environmental conditions. Once normal, or less extreme, conditions prevail, especially towards the latter part of a day, then the temporary wilting point may no longer occur, however, when the following day comes then the situation may arise again. Different species can adapt to these conditions much better than others, for example, red fescue will adapt much better than annual meadow to reduced water supply. This can be a major problem in grounds management with water being over applied on a too frequent basis to some swards when a more appropriate course of action would be to encourage roots to explore further into a soil thereby increasing the volume of soil in which water can be extracted.