How do I Know When to, How to, and How Much?
One struggle that us home gardeners often run into is knowing when to water the plants. Here are a few tips on when to garden to make watering most affective. Watering in the morning and the evening are the two best times of the day to water your plants. This is because, in most cases, the temperature is not at its peak and the plants have a chance to drink up the water. Obviously morning is the best because it is the coolest but the evening will work. During the higher temperature of the day, much of the water will evaporate before your plants get a chance to soak it up. It is also important to water near the roots at the base of the plant. Watering the leaves is wasteful because water cannot be soaked up through the leaves and will just evaporate quickly. It may also affect transpiration, the process in which plants draw water up their stems. How much do you water then? The best choice is to soak the plants, about a foot deep, once a week rather than a little every day. This encourages the roots to dig in deeper to find water, reducing susceptibility to water stress and week invasion. You can tell when your plants are suffering from water stress because they may seem droopy, the leaves may turn brownish, and/or the leaves and/or fruit may be shrunken. Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed these four posts. My goal was to inspire people letting them know that simple changes can go a long way and it doesn't take much time, money, or effort. I'll leave you with one last article on general water conservation tips from a website I found very helpful.
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