Best time for Watering vegetables?

[pepper4]

Once plants are in the ground when is the best time to water. Someone on the forum said not in the evening. Is this right? I would of thought that would of been 1 of the best times when the sun was down. I plan to plant tomatoes, cukes and peppers when weather cooperates.

[rainbowgardener]

If you water in the evening, water tends to stay on the leaves and plants over night. Staying wet like that is a strong encouragement for fungus and other diseases. Water in the AM so the plants have the benefit of it through the hot part of the day and are dry by night.

[The Helpful Gardener]

[applestar]

Not to confuse anyone, but a recommendation I just picked up (can't remember where as I've been reading like mad) is to lay the garden hose out and let the water in it warm up in the sun to water your new transplants in the early afternoon so as not to shock them with night-chilled water first thing in the morning.
-- How would YOU like an ice cold shower when you're first waking up?

(If the sun IS hot, be careful the water isn't TOO hot when you go to water either. This can happen later on as the weather warms up -- you could literally parboil your plants with the first spray. In the summer, I usually aim the spray at the weeds to empty the hot water in the hose first. )

I agree about letting the foliage dry before nightfall, however.

[Gary350]

Do what mother nature does, water in the eveing. In the summer there are lots of evening showers. I have always been told, never water in the heat of the day. I have been watering my garden about an hour before sun down every evening for 35 years. I have read that plants do 95% of their growing in the dark. I also plant my garden in the evening too. I have never had a problem with watering in the evening. One more thing don't just water the dirt do what mother nature does and water the whole plant.

When I lived in Michigan and Chicago we never watered the garden. The temperature dropped down in the 60s at night in the summer and the next morning the dew was so heavy it looked like it had rained. It never got hot enough to dry out the dirt so the garden never needed to be watered. When I lived in southern Illinois we watered in the evening sometimes but not all the time. In Tennessee I water mostly in July and August in 100 degree weather the ground dries out and the plants wilt so the garden needs water. When I lived in Arizona we watered the garden every evening, we had to otherwise everything would die. If you water the garden in mid day in Arizona or TN in 100 deg weather it will kill the plants. I think the geographical area has a lot to do with watering the garden.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Heating in midday can lead to heavy transpiration actually letting out more water than it gains. That said you often see golf courses hitting the greens around noon, in a process called syringing, just to keep plants growing (which most tend not to do much past eighty degrees, so cooling midday can stimulate growth). There are not many absolutes in gardening; it is a law of exceptions....EXCEPT FOR...

Watering foliage in the evening is an invitation to fungal diseases and for those interested in not spraying chemicals, prevention is worth far more than cure. So unless you do not care about fungal diseases because you have fungicides you are dying to use (a most correct choice of words), watering in the evening, ESPECIALLY the foliage, is never recommended. When Nature waters at night she does it everywhere and sporing entities like fungii don't spore then because they know they will simply be washed down immediately, so the danger is not there as much. That is not the case when you are watering your little plot, and spores are looking for cool wet and enough hours before sunlight to get hyphae into plant structures, and you have just given them both...

HG

[Kenzie]

Do what mother nature does, water in the eveing. In the summer there are lots of evening showers. I have always been told, never water in the heat of the day. I have been watering my garden about an hour before sun down every evening for 35 years. I have read that plants do 95% of their growing in the dark. I also plant my garden in the evening too. I have never had a problem with watering in the evening. One more thing don't just water the dirt do what mother nature does and water the whole plant.

My grandparents do the same and (being new to this) that's what I'll do till I have a reason to do otherwise. This is my year for learning hard lessons (sadly for all the seedlings I've already killed) so I'll stick with what works for them and see how it goes.

That said you often see golf courses hitting the greens around noon

I thought watering grass midday would scorch it in the hot sun? Around here I always see the courses and businesses watering really early or really late.
However, I can see how this could have it's advantages with a soaker hose around the base of the plant. After all, I wouldn't want to sit out under the Arkansas sun all day in 110 degree weather with nothing to drink.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Syringing is really more about evaporation that transpiration, as it is used to drop turf temperatures so they grow better; think of it as natural air conditioning. And I've never seen it burn bentgrass (what they use for greens in this neck of the woods...Here's some evidence that handwatering with a bit more water might be better than syringing...

[url]https://www.grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_syringing_handwatering_quench/[/url]

Japanese maples watered at midday? Those will burn. Grass? Not so much...

There is a lot of work being done in plant growth rates right now (mostly for computer models of global warming) that seems to be indicating higher nocturnal temperatures may cause higher rates of growth in darkness, but most sources appear to agree that photsynthetic plants do most of their moving an shaking during the day, closing stomata at night to conserve water. There does seem to be a wide difference in activity from pllant to plant, which makes sense as there are night blooming plants, so obviously some find their niche by switching photoperiods. So some truth to some plants growing better at night, but I stand by everything I said. In drier climates you all are not so beset with fungal issues; some of them even like a little cold and most like cool and damp. So it could be folks from drier climes might be better served to water at night, but I could never get away with it here.

Mulching good, watering in the morning and praying I don't get a wet cool summer like last year...

HG

[somegeek]

Once plants are in the ground when is the best time to water. Someone on the forum said not in the evening. Is this right? I would of thought that would of been 1 of the best times when the sun was down. I plan to plant tomatoes, cukes and peppers when weather cooperates.

Soaker hose on a timer does the job pretty well and wastes minimal water on evaporation whenever you decide to water.

somegeek

[GardenLisa]

I water first thing in the morning. I find if my plants are watered before the sun comes up, there's no water left on the foliage to burn them, but they can withstand the heat of the day. If they need a mid-day pick-me-up, that's what I have my special watering can that I leave to warm. It's my welcome to the day routine. Even if I have no other time to get in the garden during the day, I'm there every morning.