A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 What time of day should you water a plant?

Hello,
I just read that plants should only be watered during certain times of the day. Why and When?
Thanks a bunch!

If a plant really needs water, water it. No matter what time of day.

As far as a regular schedule, water in the morning. That way plants have water to keep cool through evaporation. And, water to replace what they lose through transpiration.

Watering too late in the day can invite disease. There is usually some moisture at night, for instance - dew. Also, there is very little water loss. So, watering late on a regular scedule can be detrimental, in the long run.

I live in SoCal. My outside plants are on a cement patio in pots. I soak them good every morning, during hot weather. They thrive & never dry out completely no matter how hot it gets.

Thanks a lot! Like you mine are in pots on a cement patio... although I live in Rhode Island I'd better not water at night. lol.

I usually do it first thing in the morning or at dusk.
My plants are on a wooden deck on the second floor, so these times seem to work good.

...good luck =)

rugby - i alos live in a very hot place and i thought that watering at night would be beter - oops!! i will water in the morning from now on but doesnt soaking your plants cause rootrot!?!?! my garden is very new and to be honest looks very sad. but things are started to grow and i want to let things to continue on the right track

Root rot comes from sitting in water for too long of a period. that is another reason not to water at night. Very little evaporation could leave your plants sitting in a pool.

I often water twice a day, when it is really hot & dry. But my 2nd watering is at least 3 hours before sunset.

Hello Butterflylover,
Here's a post I wrote a while back and will
also give you some more info on watering times.
Water their toes, not their nose

Weezie
that was a great explanation! I have been watering at night the same as butterflylover_52.
Maybe thats why my fuschia hanging basket looks droopy.
I am going to pass the information to my next door neighbour, because she also waters at night.

It rather depends on which species of plant, and what kind of climate you live in.

For example.
I have a bunch of yellow flag (iris) growing in a bed along with an Australian eucalyptus, a Livistona Chinesis, and a bunch of other oddly matched shrubs and grasses.

So how do I water?

Well, I drench the flags morning and night cos they are marsh lovers, and I have a huge virginia creeper and a huge jasminum planted at the back of the bed to soak up the excess water so that the livistona doesn't get drowned.

RugbyHukr mentions:
And, water to replace what they lose through transpiration.
This is really important. Generally speaking, the more foliage a plant has the more it will transpire, so my virginia creeper is transpiring tons, it soaks up the excess water and stops the other plants from rotting

You should never water 'just a little bit' in hot sun (especially over the foliage), if you're going to water then water well. But try planting something that will grow big at the back of each bed to absorb excess water.

You could also consider using lots of crushed perlite to hold onto water in the soil. This stuff will release its water as the soil begins to dry out. Its good stuff.

Hope this helps

Hi butterflylover,

weezie is a great gardner,listen and go see her site she mentioned it s cool,and all the ones that answered you are very good and you had very good advice from them as i myself could not xplain it better.