The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

ELDON, IOWA -- With the lack of rain in the Heartland, KTVO wanted to find out how you can take care of your plants in these dry conditions.

On Friday afternoon, KTVO headed on out to Ostranders in Eldon, Iowa to find out when you should water your plants.

Kristy Ostrander told KTVO that the best time to water is in the early morning hours.

“They say the best time is to water them early in the morning, as early as possible. That gives the plants time to dry out before evening. If the leaves are still wet going into night, your temperature drops, and you are more likely to get fungus diseases on your leaves. So the best thing is to water early in the morning, and water them well when you water. Just don’t water a little more frequently, water heavier and less often. The reason is, they are going to suffer from shallow roots, and if you just water a little at a time, say everyday, then they get where the roots don’t reach down into the soil where they need to,” said Ostrander.

Ostrander also advises that you pull the weeds from around your garden, and keep your garden clean.

“Keep the weeds pulled. That will help. If you keep the weeds pulled, they won’t be able to suck a lot of the moisture away and make your plants dry out faster. And, if you could put good mulch down, that would be good too. Because that will help keep the moisture in the dirt,” said Ostrander.

Ostrander pointed out that the lack of rainfall has hurt some local greenhouses. She says that they are starting to see a slowdown in business because shoppers do not want to have to deal with the upkeep of watering plants constantly.