WHY DO PLANTS NEED WATERING?
Plants release a mist of water through special holes in their leaves when the air around them is dry. Doing this creates a vacuum inside plants that sucks water from the soil through the roots into the plants to replace the water lost through the leaves. Plants can open or close these special holes to adjust the amount of water that is released. This process is called ‘transpiration’. In very hot weather, plants release a lot of water through their leaves to keep cool, rather like the way our skin sweats on hot days. In very windy weather plants also lose a lot of water because the water they release gets blown away. If there is not enough water in garden soil to replace the water released into the air, the softer cells of plants collapse and the plants wilt. Small plants may not recover if they become very wilted, and may die. Plants that do not have enough water become water-stressed. Stressed plants send out smells that encourage pests to attack them. Water stress also weakens plant
