The Effects of Tidal Surge on Fruits and Vegetables
Dr. Joe Masabni, Assistant Professor & Extension Specialist
Texas AgriLife Extension
Department of Horticultural Sciences
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas

I am not an expert on soil salinity or on the effects of tidal surge on fruits and vegetables. I will attempt to write this article based on my experiences as fruit and vegetable specialist and on work conducted by other specialists in this field.

As expected, fruits and vegetables vary in their sensitivity to salt as they do to any other factor such as temperature, sunlight, freeze, soil texture, pH, etc. In general, tree fruits are more salt sensitive than vegetables, except for date palm. Also, vegetable crops are more salt sensitive than field or forage crops, except for celery and asparagus.

The tidal surge from Hurricane Ike inundated many coastal soils along the Texas Upper Gulf Coast, but the salinity levels should drop to levels close to normal by next spring in most situations, assuming normal rainfall during the winter. For a vegetable garden, this is good news.

Of course, whoever planted a fall garden should consider not spending any more time or effort tending his vegetable garden. Homeowners should consider that the tidal water may include contaminants from sewage or other materials not suitable for human health. Instead, homeowners are advised to repair beds, remove debris and trash, and generally clean and prepare their garden for a spring planting.

By spring, a soil salinity test is advised to determine if levels have dropped to acceptable levels. If you are growing asparagus or celery, you are in luck. Asparagus has high tolerance to salt and I am aware of homeowners who use Pickling Salt or Kosher Salt as a method of weed control in their asparagus patch.

Fruit trees in general are more salt sensitive than vegetables and grain crops, with the exception of date palm, olive, and to a certain extent grapevines and most citrus cultivars. However, in the case of fruit trees, the long term effect of the tidal surge and the soil saturation with water for extended periods is of more immediate concern than salt levels. If the trees survive in the short term the tidal surge, then I believe they will do fine in the long run. Keep a close eye on how well the fruit trees are recovering from the tidal surge and decide whether they are slowly but steadily recovering or not. Signs of recovery include normal regrowth of foliage, normal leaf and flower development, and normal fall foliage.

I recommend the following 3 references:

• M. C. Shannon and C. M. Grieve at the U.S. Salinity Laboratory in Riverside, CA wrote an article titled ‘Tolerance of vegetable crops to salinity.’ The authors evaluated salinity of various fruits and vegetables and also summarized work done by others. Below is a brief extract from that article.
  Bernstein and Ayers (1953b) tested the salt tolerance of five onion cultivars (‘Yellow Sweet Spanish', ‘Texas Early Grano', ‘San Joaquin', ‘Crystal Wax', and ‘Excel') in field plots at the U.S. Salinity Laboratory. Initial yield decline started at a threshold ECe of 1.4 dS/m and 50% yield reduction was at 4.1 dS/m.
  Francois (1994) found that the threshold salinity of garlic was 3.9 dS/m and at 7.4 dS/m yield was reduced by 50%.
  In the first year after establishment, Francois (1987) found that spear yield was reduced by only 2% per unit increase in soil salinity above a threshold of 4.1 dS/m. In contrast to other plant species, ion contents of spears and ferns remained relatively stable with increasing soil salinity.
  Growth stimulation of celery by NaCl-salinity has been reported by Lingle and Carolus (1956) and Osawa (1961). Francois and West (1982) rated celery as moderately sensitive.
  Lettuce was determined to be moderately salt sensitive, with a threshold of 1.3 dS/m (Ayers et al., 1951). However, results of a field study in Israel indicated that yield and quality of iceberg lettuce was not affected by sprinkling with irrigation water salinity at 4.4 dS/m (Pasternak et al., 1986). Furthermore, it was found that romaine types were significantly more salt tolerant than iceberg types and that salt tolerance increased with age in lettuce.
  Broccoli is a moderately salt sensitive crop with an estimated threshold ECe of 2.8 dS/m (Bernstein et al., 1974).
  

• Crop Tolerance to Soil Salinity by P.N. Soltanpur and R.H. Follett:
  http://www.wca-infonet.org/servlet/BinaryDownloaderServlet?filename=1068632705960_cl16.pdf
  

• Salinity Tolerance in Avocado by David E. Crowley: (http://www.avocadosource.com/ARAC/SUM_1999/SYMP_1999_PG_15-16.pdf.)

For more information contact:
Texas AgriLife Extension Service - Galveston County Office
5115 Highway 3
Dickinson, Texas 77539
(281) 534-3413, Ext. 1, 2

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