Dry season fynbos watering

Many fynbos species actively harvest moisture from dew, fog and mist. A useful capability as they can sometimes gain significant amounts of water during periods of no rain. This happens through a mix of leaf‑surface condensation, fog interception, and directing the water down stems to the soil and roots.

As wind pushes fog droplets against leaves and stems, the droplets collide with the plant surfaces and accumulate. Gravity assists in the dripping to the ground, or running down the stems. Effective watering is thus received by the often shallow, fibrous roots in the sandstone soils. The needle‑like or ericoid foliage common in montane fynbos is adapted and well suited to this manner of acquiring moisture.

During summer, the Cape mountains often have night time dew forming when surfaces cool below the dew point. Some plants absorb small amounts of moisture like dew directly through their leaf surfaces. More of it, however, drips to the ground and moistens the upper root zone. Leaf hairiness affects condensation, while dew also reduces transpiration by wetting the leaf surfaces.

This is why so many fynbos plants appear healthy and watered in the dry summer sun on the green covered mountain slopes (https://open.uct.ac.za; https://www.wrc.org.za).