catman529
Well-Known Member
Learned something helpful this year growing out in a community garden. With my tomatoes and other stuff.
When the seedlings are young an were put in the ground recently, water just enough to get them established without letting them wilt too much. Then lay off on the watering...only when the top inch of ground is dry they should be watered. And only enough to hold them off for a while and not completely soak the ground. Basically just water as little as possible without letting them wilt. Little watering when they are young will stimulate the roots to grow out in search of more water. You'll get plants with much stronger and deeper root systems, and they will find more water several feet under the ground.
This past summer I watered often early in the summer, but not too much, but later on an overall I did very little watering at all, the plants were very low-maintenance, and the only problem was the weeds which got out of hand. I saw plenty of people come out and run the hose for 25 minutes on their little 12x12 patch and saturate their plants, several times a week. Way too much watering...the plants never learn to grow deep roots if the water is always right there. So if you water obsessively every week, and the one week you forget to water, they'll wilt quickly.
Instead you should go easy on watering from the start, let them get a little droopy sometimes (but not wilting which could damage their growth), it will toughen them up and you won't have to water nearly as much later in the season. Worked for me. Plants were still green when the first frost came around and by that time I hadn't watered them for at least a month or two.
Rule of thumb, if you can see or feel moisture within the top inch or two of soil, they don't need to be watered. When it gets real hot, they may droop some, best time to water is morning before it gets hot or evening if that works better for you. Just don't over water and give them tough love, they will adjust to the "harsher" conditions and go deeper for the water they need.
Just my 2 cents, hope it saves you money on water and gets you healthy plants.
When the seedlings are young an were put in the ground recently, water just enough to get them established without letting them wilt too much. Then lay off on the watering...only when the top inch of ground is dry they should be watered. And only enough to hold them off for a while and not completely soak the ground. Basically just water as little as possible without letting them wilt. Little watering when they are young will stimulate the roots to grow out in search of more water. You'll get plants with much stronger and deeper root systems, and they will find more water several feet under the ground.
This past summer I watered often early in the summer, but not too much, but later on an overall I did very little watering at all, the plants were very low-maintenance, and the only problem was the weeds which got out of hand. I saw plenty of people come out and run the hose for 25 minutes on their little 12x12 patch and saturate their plants, several times a week. Way too much watering...the plants never learn to grow deep roots if the water is always right there. So if you water obsessively every week, and the one week you forget to water, they'll wilt quickly.
Instead you should go easy on watering from the start, let them get a little droopy sometimes (but not wilting which could damage their growth), it will toughen them up and you won't have to water nearly as much later in the season. Worked for me. Plants were still green when the first frost came around and by that time I hadn't watered them for at least a month or two.
Rule of thumb, if you can see or feel moisture within the top inch or two of soil, they don't need to be watered. When it gets real hot, they may droop some, best time to water is morning before it gets hot or evening if that works better for you. Just don't over water and give them tough love, they will adjust to the "harsher" conditions and go deeper for the water they need.
Just my 2 cents, hope it saves you money on water and gets you healthy plants.
