Todd wrote:
Hi All,

In my little garden I have Zukes (4) and Lemon Cucumbers (3).
Last night we had three thunder showers roll through. From
the noise I feared hail. Looking through the windows, my
plants were nearly underwater. I feared for them. (Bad
enough I eat their children.)

When I was able to assess the damage in the morning, I
was shocked that not only was there no damage, but the
stinkers had actually grown about 20% over yesterday!

Am I under watering? Or is this just a good one time
thing and adding more water risks root rot?

Many thanks,
-T

Cucurbits will shown signs of underwatering quickly as they will wilt,
luckily they also recover quickly. If yours are not wilting in the
afternoon they are not under watered. Be careful with watering that you
don't wet the leaves or splash mud up on to them as they are very
susceptible to mildew on the leaves, especially when the humidity is high.
If you do water more make it few deep waterings not many shallow ones. In
principle thunder storms add nitrogen to the soil as the lightning fixes
atmospheric nitrogen into soluble compounds but I doubt that you would see
results overnight from one storm!

D