When is the BEST Time to Water the Garden and Why?
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2021
- Watering your garden is something that you will probably have to do at some point. Here in Michigan it has been very dry and very hot meaning we have had to water a bit more than usual. When it the best time of day to water your plants, and why? That is what we will be discussing in today’s episode.
For those who don't think water can burn leaves - Read this: Egri, A.; Horvath, A.; Kriska, G.; Horvath, G. Optics of sunlit water drops on leaves: conditions under which sunburn is possible. New Phytologist, 2010;
"In sunshine, water drops residing on smooth, hairless plant leaves are unlikely to damage the underlying leaf tissue, while water drops held above leaves by plant hairs can indeed cause sunburn, if their focal regions fall on to the leaf blade."
So for many garden plants like peppers that have smooth leaves, they found that water droplets can not cause sunburn, but plants with hydrophobic hairy leaves that can elevate drops of water above the surface may cause sunburn under some conditions. Overall I think the danger of sunburn caused by water droplets is often overstated based on those findings, but it is definitely possible for some plants.
@@TheSkillotron Thats very interesting.
@@TheSkillotron Exactly. For all the talk of water causing burns, I’ve never seen it happen. If it were really an issue, we would see plants getting burned when the sun came out after a sudden rain shower. It doesn’t happen.
@@TheSkillotron And ofcourse that there are more ways to burn leaves by osmotic dehydration.
I think watering on the leaves gives more problems with disease and is inefficient than that sunburn is a real problem
@@sazji it “doesn’t” happen? Shocking. I didn’t say it happened all the time. I said it could happen. Notice how I leave room for both scenarios to be true? I am letting people know the possibility of an outcome that may be damaging to their plants. It wasn’t the standalone reason, it was part of a long list of reasons. I think the criticism is highly unwarranted.
Also, that water in your hose just may SCALD your plants, IF it's been out in the sun all day, even if the sun isn't out when you water. Check the temp of that water and let it flow until it's cool enough!
Thats probably the most important. Im sure watering whenever is fine(not midday) just gotta check for the hose water temp. Somedays youd think boiling water is running through it if you dont just let it run for a few minutes to cool the hose down.
@@bamasteus I have several empty gallon milk jugs that I use to put the hot hose water in. When the hose water is cool then I use it to water my plants. Personally I water my plants when they are wimpy and wilted. I'm in Florida and I have never boiled my plants roots. I've been gardening for over 40 years here in the same area.
I use those milk jugs of water to mix liquid fertilizer in after the water has cooled off. Sometimes advice should be given to gardeners by regions.
Made this mistake one time while using drip tape lines....bursted my cheap little eBay version cause the plastic wasn’t rated to that temperature 😂😅
I call it burping the hose
yup that is what I have to do is let it cool off before watering plants
Happy gardening this fourth of july everyone!
Hey it's the fourth of july three years later.
I have listened to you guys who said to wait till morning to water my plants, and I watched my plants wilt. This year I tried watering when the plants need water, and many times that is during the day. The results: This has been my best year ever by far. I have not seen any of the issues you have pointed out.
Can’t say I completely agree with this. There’s farmers in the southwest overhead watering crops at noon in the summer to cool them down. But I love discussing it!
Thank you for sharing this information!! I appreciate your help. 🌼
for crops like lettuce this is a good practice. You water the plants, not the soil, to cool them down and help prevent the lettuce plants from bolting to flower. Just a light to moderate overhead watering, enough to get the leaves wet but not soaking the soil. Initial watering cools things down and the heat transfer from slowly evaporating that wetness continues to keep them cooler.
They have to continually mist them. Overhead misting is highly effective but on large scale with infrastructure. Good points though!
Ya this is not correct. In hot dry climates plants benefit from a mid day watering on extremely hot days. Just make sure the water is not hot
@@Soilfoodwebwarrior thank u , I've been watering early morning an after dark .I live in Montgomery County, Texas a good 95 miles north / west of Galveston, a good 69 miles from Houston. Country ...we have had weird weather compared to the past ...lower Temps & almost all of June July , we had ran .now the heat 🔥is up & humidity is has been at 98% , just bought 2 peach 🍑 trees an 2 blackberry 2 blueberry bushes ,I unboxed them put in screen room they told me to get use to our weather an gives us time to dig & prepare ..those r for our 19yr old Daughter
April Ann Ulrich who was k infront of us .
I have found gardening is therapeutic but doesn't an won't ever take our pain away ...
Thank u 4 any help about my trees ,bushes ...Josette Tharp
You have been my favorite and most informative person. And you speak very well and thank you for your researching.
My issue is that I have to be at work at 6am, which means getting on the road by 5:30. So unless I wanna stand out in my garden at 4:30 in the morning, I water when I get home in the early evening, about 5pm. I use a wand, so I’m not getting the leaves wet. It’s the best I can do, and seems to be doing ok.
I am in the same situation. I use almost all rain water. I do the same and keep it off the leaves. I have been doing it this way for over 25 years and will change when i retire.
I'm retired and live in Baja. I'm not a morning person, so I just water around 6 or 7pm. The nights here are really warm, so don't have to worry about getting water on the leaves. Works for me too.
Same here and I don't notice any ill effects. On really hot days when everything is dry and wilting it is nice to see things perk back up.
I just posted almost the exact thing lol. I’m not getting up at 03:30 to water.
I wrapped soaker hoses around the plants when I first put them in. Attached a timer. Turn it off if I’m expecting rain.
This is my first garden in about 20 years after living in Colorado. I usually water I'm the am, but have found in the south that if I lightly water around 5pm it is usually enough time for the soil to dry. I forget some mornings before work as we have 2 kids.
I disagree about not watering at night if on drip irrigation. My plants NEVER get wet as all my emitters direct water to the base of the plants. I feel watering in the evening allows for a more deep watering as it has a chance to soak in deep over night with less evaporation then watering in the morning. Now if you are hand watering and wetting down your plants in the process (which you should never be wetting down the entire plant except for maybe washing off insects or foliar feeding), watering in the morning might be best for you.
I agree with this. As a person who lives in the desert.
Two nights in this past week here in MA, we've had rain all night. Not much I can do about that.
I water twice a day unless it rains. At 8am and 8pm and if the temp is above 95, texas panhandle, i water. I use soaker hoses and water for 10 minutes at 8am and 8pm and again if the temp is above 95 they get a 3 min drink and man my garden is flourishing.
@@mdlcrochet we did that too, only deeply, while living in Albuquerque.. I've never had such great tasting tomatoes and melons!!!
I too always water the soil of my garden before sunset, but do not soak the leaves of the plants. The water is cool rainwater. Never do I have a mold problem. I grow in a humid zone 7.
Watering in the evening works just fine, as long as you water at the base of the plants instead of spraying water all over the foliage like an insane person.
That insane person would be my bf. 😂😂😂😭
if you water the leaves in it helps pollination of the flower because the bugs get in it get wet and it sticks to them and also it helps the other flower
It's going to depend a lot on what you're watering.
I have several beds of peas with lettuce beneath. Both like a lot of water and wet feet.
Photosynthesis stops at a certain temperature.
Cooling them down mid-day will turn that solar energy in to super-productivity, instead of killing the plant through dryness and heat.
Plants sweat, too. But also take in water through the foliage.
We just had record all-time high temperatures, abover 40C. The lettuce shouldn't even be alive, never mind growing faster than ever.
If you live in a monster slug area do not water at night. You're just pulling out the red carpet for them.
I’m at work by 06:00. I’ve been watering in the evening for years and everything seems to be fine on my garden. I’m sure it might be better if I woke up an hour early at 03:30 or install a self watering drip system but I’m going to be honest with myself and I’m not going to do either. Watering the garden when we get off work is relaxing and a way to reduce stress. I’ll stick with the evening until I get a 8-5 job.
Its been 105° average in my area the last 2 weeks. Thanks so much for talking about this.
What an education I get listening to you! So happy I found you today! 🙏🏻🦋🍃
I just wanted to say this is my 3rd year container gardening and your videos have been so helpful! I also purchased many seeds from you. Hopefully I can grow some from seed in the fall and next season. I was nervous to try this year and grabbed some seedlings this year. Thank you for all of the information you share for new gardeners like myself.
The best time to water is when it’s dry.
This is great advice, but let's face it. Most of the people out there are doing good if they water at all 😆
Exactly why I bought a timer lol
@@gloworm6387 Or have a disclaimer: Local conditions govern! I have containers that will have to get watered 2x a day if it's extremely hot or sunny.
I cant even water in the morning I work early so I have to water the plants like at 4 or 5 pm
@@rociosilverroot2261I agree! We're in a major heat blast in the Pacific NW, even on the east side of the state. I water early mornings and again at night as we've been over 100 for a week now. At night I make sure none gets on the leaves tho, and the sun's been off the compost for several hours.. Don't think it's hot water going to the roots.. As I flood the containers! Ha
@@gloworm6387 he cannot cover every region of our country and still feed his family. Do some of your own research.
Thanks for the clarification! My husband and I were discussing this last week.
Thanks for the great advice!!
Luke, THANK YOU so much for the YT50 seed sale the other day. I have already received my order and can't wait to get some of the flower seeds in the garden this weekend. As usual, the seeds and service at MI Gardener is excellent. Please let your staff know their hard work and dedication to our gardens is greatly appreciated. :)
I got my order too and will be finding places for some this weekend. That was an awesome sale!
Plants are just like us. They love cool water on their leaves in the heat of the day. The water evaporates very quickly. I've never observed burns resulting from watering in the sun (in Florida no less). If you have to water in the middle of the day, water all parts thoroughly with cool water. Take the opportunity to cool down the whole plant. Finally, I do believe it's ideal to water in the morning. This curtails a lot of wilting and stress come mid day.
This is great to know. I sometimes water at night but now having second thoughts about that. Good pointers and advice.
Thanks, Luke!
Thank you for the advice! And thank you for taking the time to explain why! It makes so much sense!
Got my seeds yesterday!! So excited for planting through the garden in our next seasons 💕🍅🪴🍓
Thank you Luke, I did learn from this video. I just installed an automatic drip system and now I know when to have it turn on
You are the best!!Great explanation of how and why. Thank you!
Great information Luke. Thank you!
This was so informative! I've been watering my garden in the evening and my plants have really been struggling, so this was really helpful!
I live in the texas panhandle, when it gets over 95 outside i do give my plants a mid day drink. Now i have mulch down which protects the ground from heating up and i use a soaker right at the plant roots and never water on the plants. They seem do love it when i do that for them when we are in heat waves. Recently we arent in a heat wave, heck temps barely get to 80 right now which is odd for my area and we have also had a lot and i mean a lot of rain and i havent watered my garden in almost a week due to the amount of rain. But anyways thats what i do and my plants love the mid day drink when we are 95 or above.
I think all of that famous TX heat is up in Oregon and Canada right now. It's been a crazy weather year. Indiana has been soggy and HUMID.
Ohh very helpful information!!!
I take two buses to get to work so I do a lot of walking. I’m very tired when I get home. I take two buses back home so I take a nap during the evening and I’m Muslim so I pray 5 times a day so in this summer I have to wake up at 4:00am to pray. I take the bus to work at 7:00am. I’ll start watering at 5:30am half an hour after morning prayer. That way I have at least 1 hour to water the plants and eat breakfast and catch the bus 💜💜💜💜💜
Thx!
I received my seeds from your store today. Thank you so much, God bless.
Yes! Good reminder, Good point. 🤔
I'm really glad you included wet leaf burn from the sun. I remember getting yelled at for not cutting off the lawn sprinkler on the Japanese Maples when the sun began to hit them! The leaves looked so sad & scorched until I learned better 😉
I have to disagree with both plant roots getting too warm when irrigated on hot days, and with water on the leaves causing sunburn. I work on a vegetable farm and we have been overhead irrigating on 90F and sunny days with no issues. Cool well water will objectively cool down the leaves and soil, and the water almost always will evaporate fast enough so that lensing on the leaf will not happen.
Leaf scorching from water on the leaves is something I see people claiming all the time online because they're repeating advice they've heard, but I just don't see it in real life. Maybe you could try an experiment with your garden, Luke?
Yeah many of these are MYTHS he has picked up. I water in the heat. Never any issues .
I’m a new gardener and live on Long Island.. it’s been very hot this week and when I get home from work around 2.. my tomato plants are totally wilting. I’ve been misting the plant leaves and watering below in their containers and the perk right up in an hour. There is a lot of conflicting advice out there. I just want to enjoy the fruits of my labor and praying I get to enjoy some tomatoes 🍅 🙏🙏
Sounds like it's working for you!
Last year I experimented with watering times and in my garden the plants loved being watered at 3am to 5am vs any other time.
I tried watering at 9pm and had slugs everywhere. thanks for all your videos luke
Live and learn. Just watched this at 10pm, just after watering the garden.
I love your knowledge and truly appreciate you sharing it with us!!
Thank you. I needed to hear this.
Excellent. Makes sense. Thank you
Thanks, great and needed advice.
Another great video from the MIgardener 🌱💧
This is a great and very helpful video. Learned something today and thank you. I usually and always water in the evening cuz thats the only time I have but after watching this video, I will try to start watering my plants in the morning. I have lots of slugs and snails so i hope this will help. Thanks Bro for sharing your knowledge. 👍
This is the video that I needed!!!! Thanks
I’ve seen tons of counter evidence personally and scientific journal papers vs the water during the day burns the plants thing. I don’t disagree that it’s better water off hours but it’s not for that reason and if you have cool season crops in a warm zone. Day misting / watering can keep you going
I use straw mulch in containers that retain moisture makes life easier so can water in morning and later afternoon in summer. I usually water later afternoon if plant are dry from morning watering since does not get dark until 9pm.
Thank you for giving a time line of when to water. I kept hearing and seeing "early morning" so I kept thinking if it was after 6am it was too late.
Good video!! I try to water before 9 or 10 am but sometimes life happens.
Water is actually NOT a good conductor of heat. That's why it takes so much energy and time to bring water to a boil.
Great info you are putting out. I think you were spot on with everything, watering in the morning solves many issue. You should touch on feeding I'm very specific. I only feed at night old legends. Also I'm only growing in pots, so I could see how feeding at night could be completely different for a garden.
Great sharing dear friend!🙂 Have a nice day!👍523
Very good video. Thank you.
Thank you for this. (The wife and I argue just about every year about best time to water.)
Thanks for the info.....I’ve been doing this all wrong.
I guess this is recommended for best/optimal results. When I think about the fact that most of these vegetables grow in the wild without a regimented watering/irrigation system, but by relying on chance rainfall, it kind of makes me not worry about the specifics too much. Not saying to just totally neglect plant care, because obviously it also depends on your climate, but I start to not fret so much about not keeping a hard schedule.
Yup, boiled my eggplants last year!
And yes, so much rain here in Flint, Mi!
Here too in northeast Indiana. My new rhubarb was practically floating, so I moved it to a raised bed. I don't think that I moved it in time though, because all of the leaves are brown. 😢
Great advice!
This was useful. Thanks.
I use drip hose and a timer 15 minutes in the morning every day or so depending on area. I'm using a lot of mulch this year and what a difference.
Great video..grow BIG
I've got my watering down despite my approach changing several times in 30+ years of gardening. But sometimes the judgement calls baffle me, particularly when it comes to rain in the forecast. For example, we're in a heatwave (Mass) and I know I need to water this morning BUT it's supposed to rain this afternoon. I mulch my garden and have soaker hoses so my plants are consistently moist. But sometimes before or after rainfall I'm not sure if I should water or not as I'm very cautious about over watering. Thanks Luke, great channel!
Good info, really interesting. 😊👍🏾
Concerning slugs / snails, Here is a trick that I use that has been working well:
My garden consists of raised beds. First and foremost I have mulch throughout my garden area. My raised beds have mulch as well. The main purpose of doing this is that slug / snails hate rogh or sharp objects. However, even though I have mulch in my garden, I still crush eggshells to almost a fine powder but not too fine ( you want some sharp edges for those slugs/snails they hate so much) . I spread them around the lants that slugs / snails like, especially around pepper plants.
I also have a trick to ward off moths, cucumber bettles, etc etc from all my plants. I use cayenne pappers extract and mix with water, usually
4 to 8 Oz per one gallon of water and spray my plants. I pay close attention to the bottom sides of the leaves where insects like to hide and spray those areas well. I know someone will ask "Does it urt the platns?" - No it will not harm your plants spraying them with "hot sauce for insects" I have been doing this for quite a few years.
It is easy to make your own Cayenne pepper mix:
Use around 6 peppers, throw them in a blender and fill blender up with water.
Chop the peppers as fine as you can.
Get a large jar / container (depending how much water your blender holds) and place a filter over the top of the jar / container. A good filter to use would be a coffee filter for example. The filter will keep back any fine particles that you will not want in your sprayer.
When ready to use, mix anywhere from 4 Oz to 8 Oz of the cayenne pepper per one gallon of water. Shake your sprayer well and spray.
NOTE: You can start out with a 4 Oz mix of the pepper to see if it will work and is strong enough. If an insect even tries to take a nibble, they leave it alone. Simply keep an eye on your plants and if you begin to see insects again, spray again. For me, it depends on rain amounts but I am usually good for one to two weeks before needing to spray again.
My garden is fenced off due to rabbits and deers. However, there is another benefits to the cayenne pepper sprays. I spary the outside of my fence area and it wards of raccoons, skunks, rabbits and deers. They hate the smell of hot peppers
That's great Luke but it's been raining for the past week here in Oklahoma so I haven't had to water it all
Great explanation - thx
Thank you for this.
As a container gardener I've found quart Gatorade bottles with a pinhole in the bottom water just fine after work. Forces deep roots and my plants don't mind damp feet at night. Most other problems are circumvented also. PS keep tomato leaves trimmed up the stem 10-12".
I saw you were upset with people. I hope I didn't offend you sometimes I put a comment on here and I don't want to offend you. I am 78 yrs old and you remind me of my grandson. Love to watch you. Thanks for all you do.
Nice information Thanks s
Loved this video.
Thank You Sir 👍
Well I’ve been doing it all wrong 🤦♀️😭, I have always watered in the evening… I will stop doing that and start watering in the morning. Thank you for the video
Common sense, but some people need to be *reminded* - repeatedly, in some cases! Thanks for the video!
And Happy Fourth!!
Respectfully, this advice isn't common sense. It might be common knowledge among avid gardeners however.
Hi Luke. I always water the soil of my garden before sunset, but do not soak the leaves of the plants. The water is cool rainwater. Never do I have a mold problem. I grow in a humid zone 7, but have lots of sun and hot conditions (usually) during the summer months.
Thanks 👍
I started watering my plants anywhere 10am-11sm or later in the afternoon, like 4:00pm and my plants survived and thrived. I dont water them when its super hott because like you said, one year I did that with my flower pots and the leaves burn to crisp, they died , or became spotted. I also attempted at watering my zucchini plants in the hot days and watered the leaves versus just the roots and the meldew was a huge issue right after, I stopped doing that too.
I over watered my chili pots and the leaves began to curl so stop over watering too. Just look at your plants and get a feel if the leaves are asking for water...then water them, with love and care.
Thanks for all the informative videos. One thing you may want to correct is your comment about stomata. In most plants stomata are open during the DAY while photosynthesis is occurring and closed at NIGHT. There are exceptions to this in plants that are evolved in arid conditions (google CAM photosynthesis) but pretty much all the veggie plants we grow have stomata open during the day and closed at night.
that's so crazy that that water would heat up if the soil is hot. I would think if you water it enough (deep) it would cool the soil down. I learn so much!
We water deeply, in the heat, on very black compost. The plants are surviving much better. I think if you live where the humidity is high, you need to follow his advice, but for those in super arid areas with hot evenings, we can get away with night waterings.. And the plants have all night to soak it up!
Great video
Masha Allah very nice video and very interested God bless you
Thanks!! 💖
Hey Hun, great video! Heads up on those cute white butterflies, they are probably Cabbage moths!
We have had 102°F - 118.2°F, in the Canadian Mountains! Craziness!
I have been watering at night , but our nights have not been cool. I have also been watering in early mornings too. And we have a passive drought protection, in most of our gardens.
I just saw some of those monsters in my garden. They are trying to eat everything 😫
Hope your garden is okay. Mine just got destroyed from a big storm with hail. That hail lasted like 20
minutes! I'm across from Detroit in Canada.
Thanks to Mother Nature I haven’t had to water my garden at all this summer 😊🌱🍅
Wow! What great info! I love how you give a detailed explanation of why to do things a certain way. I always wanna know the why before I'm convinced of anything 🤣 Btw 85 sounds refreshing. We're having highs over 100 pretty regularly lately here in North Dakota. AND hardly any rain, so I'm having to water our garden all the time 🙄
That's what I'm saying!!! A nice dry 80 degrees sounds sooo good right now. I'm down in nature's sauna, aka Florida, sitting at 96% humidity with thunderstorms every afternoon. Luckily the temps are reasonable but man the humidity is killer!
I just watered my garden and tomatoes at 9:30 pm, 🤦🏼♀️ wish I would have seen this sooner…oh well, now I know, thank you!!!
My parents in Nebraska always have to water their huge garden and they water all day long When it rains it rains at any time. Can’t say I agree with this
They water all day long. So that’s the point. Most people water for 10-15 minutes and are done. It’s not an apples to apples comparison.
I always water my potatoes at high noon. It's an easy way to boil them up. Have a nice bbq and let the kids dig up the cooked spuds.
That's a great idea!! Saves a lot of work! 🤣😂
I try to water between 5 and 6am, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Here lately in the texas panhandle, I haven't needed to water. I've only watered once in the past week. The cooler weather and rain has been nice
I'm in central, from east. This weather has been amazing!
It's so bright and hot here in texas and I have noticed sunburning on my younger plants so I definitely try to keep the water off the leaves. I should probably wake up early to beat the heat.
My brother had always been watering at night. He has been gardening much longer than I have and is usually more successful than I am. One evening I was at his house and he asked me to come talk to him while he watered. I had seen a similar video to this and told him about it. He grinned politely because he has always been better at practical things than I and always had more "common sense" than I have. But I could tell he couldn't dismiss our watering conversation.
Later he called me and told me he had checked into when to water and that I was right. He waters in the mornings now.
we use soaker hoses & water at night- well, early evening like 7pm cuz we have the time to do it then. works for us & garden is flourishing.
Soaker hoses are good and don’t get leaves wet. So that doesn’t really apply to what I was talking about in this video which was overhead watering.
Another cool video. I'm curious as to what effect some small solar lights in a garden would have as far as bug attracting.
While I agree watering during the morning is best - watering at any time of day is better than no water at all. In the heatwave I am in at the moment and my poor soil (its a new garden) I’ve had to water 3-4x per day to prevent leaf loss or death due to drying out.
Fortunately I live in a dry climate so no wet leaf issues (they dry in 15 min tops) and much to my surprise I haven’t had any leaf scorching due to the watering in full sun either.
Rain! What rain? We live in the South end of the San Joaquin Valley but your information is good to know. We have had repeated days of over 100 F and no rain to speak of since late April.
thanks!!!!!!!!
110 w/15-25% humidity. I water with a wand frequently.
Soaker grid on a timer set to about an hour prior to sunlight. If the soil is drying out below a couple inches for more than a couple days I switch to every 12 hours.
Luke more or less water on the ground a drip line have it go on a morning drip like 6 am !!! Lost out on walking for 1 month so garden is just getting put in there. Got the cabbage plants in different pots but just got some tomato plants put into pots!!! got cucumbers and zucchine growing and going around the garden so I think it is doing it's own !!!
I use soaker hoses and I usually water early morning or later afternoon. But most times, I water when i have time to be able to have the water on for a few hours and am able to shut it off.
Mulch !! i mulch with straw and wood chips the wood chips seem to work the best for me ! i can soak the soil without the mud splashing , and my soil stays moist far longer and my soil temps are far more consistent through the day and night