When is the Best Time to Water?

arslant001

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Hello guys, Hope you are doing well, I watered my pants on regular basis. Can anyone tell me what is the best time to water in the morning or evening?
 

sgkent

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when there is no wind. Watering in the evening can cause more fungus if the lawn stays wet all night. However if the wind blows like nuts where you are at 6am then watering then the water spray just blows away. i water about 4am. No wind here at that time, and the lawn is dry by 10am.
 

SeniorCitizen

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I'm morning person so when the soil moisture at root depth is below 25% is when and early even if i need my head lamp .
 

4getgto

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when there is no wind. Watering in the evening can cause more fungus if the lawn stays wet all night. However if the wind blows like nuts where you are at 6am then watering then the water spray just blows away. i water about 4am. No wind here at that time, and the lawn is dry by 10am.
Can't argue with that and it does make sense . But tell Mother Nature to never rain at night..?
 

StarTech

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Watering times vary. During hot Summer days evening watering is best as hot soil evaporate the moisture faster but there are times at multiple split watering is necessary along mulching. New plantings usually require watering more often until established as soils are looser at first. Most plants prefer damp soil so you need not to over water but deep soaking at times are needed.

Now as you get trained by your plants you will be able to tell when they are asking for water. We like to think we are the ones in control but it is a partnership between plants and animals most times.

And yes I have killed even cactus by not paying attention to the signs the plants were giving me that they needed water. I almost killed my potted Bay Leaf plant by not checking the pot's soil dampness. It is recovering but lost all its leaves so it be a while before I get any rewards from it.
 

bertsmobile1

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And it will vary depending upon your type of soil
The best time is when yo need to relaxe & watch water playing around your garden
Some plants will grow mildew at the drop of a hat so they need to be watered in the morning
while others will prefer to drink overnight Watering tomatoes in the night tends to promote splitting it all depends upon the plant .
Lawns usually work best with a deep watering in the evening every 3 to 4 days .
Understanding the water requirements of the various plants and grouping them according to their watering prefference will make your gardening life a whole lot easier
If you can find one, get a copy of "The Lazy Gardner" by Don Bourke .
The book s more about the philosophy of gardening rather than a bible .
You can be a slave to your plot or enjoy every minute in there.
Perfect example is grass
Most grasses will work best if cut at around 3 " to 4 "
The bulk of people cut at 1" to 2"
Cutting that low promotes compaction of the soil , allows sunlight to reach the soil which promotes weed germination from the seed bank .
Most weeds will grow substantially faster than the grass ( which is exactly why they are weeds ) so if given 1/2 a chance will take over.
Unless you live under a dome & have synthetic soil then there will be in the order of 100,000 weed seeds per square foot in your soil and many of them will be viable for more than 10 years , which is again why they are weeds .
Cutting high also allows space for the clippings to fall down between the blades of grass which helps keep the soil moist & again retards weed germination plus the grass breaking down promotes beneficial organism to inhabit your grass
 

arslant001

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when there is no wind. Watering in the evening can cause more fungus if the lawn stays wet all night. However if the wind blows like nuts where you are at 6am then watering then the water spray just blows away. I water about 4 am. No wind here at that time, and the lawn is dry by 10am.
Thanks for the suggestion.
 

StarTech

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Bert, That exactly why we have so much carb grass in gardens. Tons of seeds in the soil that are just waiting for the proper condition to sprout and grow. Several years I switched to using 4EC pre-emergent in my garden and only tilled as crop were rotated in and out of the area. It became a pleasure to garden instead of being a chore that I hated doing every few days.

These weed seeds are constantly being spread by the animals and wind so it becomes a war of wills. I just did some potted plants recently from some soil where that appeared to be no weeds. A few days later the pots where full of newly sprouted weeds. I should have sterilized the soil before putting in the pots. Lesson learned, take time from now to do it for potting plants and for starting new plants from seed.
 

bertsmobile1

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The neighbour up the hill was old & too frail to mow the grass
So when we stood on the balcony and looked you could see the rivers of serrated Tussock grass raining down from her yard into ours.
Right now sticky niteshade is a massive problem .
Each berry can contain over 1000 seeds and they reman viable for 40 years
There is more seeds in most soil than soil all just waiting for the ideal conditions to germinate .
OTOH native forests have been know to regenerate by doing nothing more than removing the weeds .
 

sgkent

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pre-emergent is a solution if one lives in a place where there are seasonal weeds. But it will also stop any grass seed you throw down from germinating. I usually round up the lawn area every 4 or 5 years, then cut low and haul away once it turns yellow. Then dethatch, and water multiple times a day to germinate weeds. Then round up 30 - 45 days again, repeat until no weeds are coming up. Then aerate, put down starter fertilizer and seed with the best seed for the area, trying to time it in fall. We don't get snow here so by spring the seed is well up and established. Cut to 3" once a week. If there are seasonal weeds, POA etc., that come up use a pre-emergent to stop it, or something like POA Constrictor. I also get rid of all the ant hills while the lawn is out. I use something that is legal the way I use it and that the ants then carry anthill to anthill but can't say what it is cause the manufacturer gets upset, fearing that people will use it in an illegal manner, and get them in trouble.
 
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