Surround WP: summer heat doesn't need to be the end of your garden

By mid-August, excessive heat and relentless plant-eating insects usually bring an end to a vegetable garden, especially in the sunbelt. But there's a product that's a little hard to find that professional growers use to keep their crops alive and ready to thrive for a bountiful fall harvest: Surround WP.

Pepper plants with a coating of Surround WP.

Surround WP is an OMRI-approved product that relies on the sun-shielding properties of natural kaolin clay to coat plant leaves and stems and protect them from the elements.

The product comes as a powder that you mix with water and apply with a handheld sprayer. Spray over and under leaves until the whole plant is covered with a white sunscreen. It usually takes two coats, but often one coat is all you need.

By shielding plant surfaces from the sun, Surround WP helps peppers, tomatoes, squash and all other crops pull through the worst of the summer extremes. It also wards off grasshoppers, leaf-footed bugs and other plant eaters while giving squash, cucumbers and pumpkins a little protection from powdery mildew.

Unused Surround WP stays good for years if the bag is kept in a dry place. The product is non-toxic and washes off with water.

Surround WP is sold mostly to professional growing operations, but home gardeners can sometimes find a bag at a savvy garden retail store, such as Garden Variety Organics: https://www.gardenvarietyorganics.com/collections/insect-other-repellents/products/surround-wp-kaolin-clay-25-lbs