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San Jose garysand@pacbell.net

Ok here is the deal, I have been watering daily for the past few weeks, I have soaker hose around the base of the plant, plus some deep watering tubes that probably give it 6-9gph its been in the 80-90 degree range. I bought a moisture meter, and it is showing WET, the thing only goes about 6-8"deep. The plant looks great, throwing off females, no aborts (yet).

I made a 4' wide hole, 2' deep and put mushroom compost and aged horse manure, for my main plant, and maybe just a little bit of the native clay mixed in, the other one got maybe 3'wide by 1' deep with horse manure.

I know they say 600 gal of water per 1000 sq ft, but I am only watering the base, and just added 1/4" soaker hose to run with the secondaries AND I have no idea how many gal per hour the soaker hose puts out.

Should I just use the moisture meter and only water when it gets close to the dry?

hellllllllllllllppppppppp

Gary

7/24/2005 2:36:32 PM

Montoursville, PA

Your key statement: "The plant looks great". That is the whole key. A good soaking goes down. The roots go where the water is. A daily sprinkle is subject to having the top inches wet and considerably drier below. The plants go to where the water is. When a real hot day appears and the roots are near the top of the root zone for water heat stress is almost assured.

There is much difference from one patch to another. High humus holds water better and longer. You really have to do what you are doing. Let the plant talk to you with the understanding it can look good in moderate weather when only the top inch or so is getting water.

Weigh this information with your knowlege about your patch. Sounds to me you are doing watering about right. A specific number of gallons can only be determined by you. Guidelines follow opinions. Plants look good and grow good only when they have study water with a day or two off for drying out just a bit. I think the drying out advisement is, to compensate, for possible overwatering. Again it is your hand, your meter and your call, by watching your leaves. Sometimes we tend to do what someone else does but our patch is not just like any other patch.

7/24/2005 3:38:47 PM

Canada

I was doing the same thing. nice good deep soaks every day, and found my plants still wilting dureing the heat of the day, after recieveing 130 MM of rain last week i noticed the roots comeing out of the ground as if they were drowing, I never watered the plant all week and it was HOT 90-100 with Humidex. plants roots went back into the ground and I havent watered yet. I'm starting to believe its better to give the plant a good deep drench twice a week rather then light waterings every day. this way the roots go down deeper looking for water.

Dave

7/24/2005 9:44:27 PM

Midwest

I've been watering 3-4ft out from the crown with an open-ended hose. I don't stop even if the water is pooling around the crown or in low spots. I use the hose-end sprayer only when I apply liquid fertilizer. Then, I water less deeply. My patch has a 8in 'mound' that slopes down around 4-8ft either side. And, like you, I have mushroom compost and peat moss (8 cubic yards) in a 4' rectangle around the crown (1.5ft deep). I water every other day. I can only make an observation from the last time it rained here. It really downpoured for about 30min. The day after, the plant took off. I think that by following nature (which quite often dumps water all at once) I'm giving the plant what it wants, water all the way down to the clay soil (which is 2ft down at least).
Doc, that's some good advice. Have you noticed something about rain water? Plants just love it!
Thanks
Greg

7/25/2005 2:13:07 PM

Azores,terceira Island

The reason that you would notice that plants love rain water is that natural rain carries nitrogen into the soil and dont have all the chemicals....Ryan

7/25/2005 5:07:11 PM

Ontario, Canada.

Rainwater is naturally soft and free of minerals, chlorine, fluoride and other chemicals.

“Trees and plants rely on fungus, bacteria and nematodes to help them absorb the minerals and nutrients they need,” explains Hundley. “Plants have an efficient immune system that allows them to fend off diseases and other invaders as long as they have a healthy soil environment and aren’t stressed by other factors,” he adds. Chemical fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides and drought disrupt the balance and harmony of the soil, weakening trees and plants and allowing disease to take over. “The chemicals and hard water from many municipal water systems also add to the imbalance of the soil. Watering with softer, natural rainwater is a nice treat for your plants,”

http://doityourself.com/gardenmaint/rainwater.htm

7/26/2005 1:17:02 AM

Macomb County

It's been said that growing is one of those things that can be learned, but can't be taught. Everyone is giving you good advice. The logic behind allowing your plant to go through a relatively wet and dry cycle is as docgipe is telling you, it makes the roots grow deep, something you want especially during the first half of the season.
Overwatering can wash N out, lock up Mag and rot roots. And root rot is caused by soil so wet there's an oxygen depletion for too long. However, since your plant
is telling you the opposite, my advice would be why stress over success? Expert growers know their own areas and maybe you've discovered something important and different about your own from the rest of us. Trust your own eyes.

7/26/2005 5:08:02 AM

San Jose garysand@pacbell.net

Thanks for all the good advice

I stopped watering for now, I was running soaker hose for 3-4 hours a night, the moisture meter is still pegged WET.

Everything looks good now, but like jack said, if it stays too moist for too long stuff might start happening.

As for getting rain water in california in the summer FAT CHANCE, all i got is the hard city water.

Hope everyone grows a biggie

Gary

7/26/2005 9:56:06 AM