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Old May 1, 2014   #1
jeffma
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Default What time of day to water?

Is there a preference of early morning vs evening watering of tomatoes? I use drip irrigation and pine mulch in my raised beds.
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Old May 1, 2014   #2
taboule
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When they look thirsty -seriously, for example after a very hot day.
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Old May 1, 2014   #3
heirloomtomaguy
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When i grew everything in containers I drip irrigated at 7 am. Watering in the morning allows for the main stem to dry quickly. If you water in the evening you run the risk of your plants possibly getting a soil born disease from being wet all night.
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Old May 1, 2014   #4
Dewayne mater
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It is more a time not to water in my opinion. I would avoid watering just before dark all the way through near sunrise. If your watering system has any potential for splashing on the leaves and that happens at night, the leaves will stay wet all night and disease onset will be swift and unrelenting! If you don't have that issue such as with drip irrigation, then watering as needed is effective.

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Old May 1, 2014   #5
b54red
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Actually I found that during the long drought we sustained here in the Southeast it worked better to water thoroughly late in the evening so the plants had time to absorb the water and recover from the long dry hot days. That also allows the water to be absorbed deeply into the ground. I always have a heavy mulch under my plants so splash back is not a problem. If you don't mulch then I would try to water early in the morning.

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Old May 1, 2014   #6
ContainerTed
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The best time to water is when you can get natural rain in that area of the country - which means about anytime. I would only avoid watering in a manner that will get the foliage wet, when the sun will return and start "teaming the veggies" before that foliage can dry. Plants that are obviously in distress may need water just to cool them off.

So, listen to your plants. I promise that if you listen correctly, they will tell you what they need and when they need it.

The movie "Caddyshack" coined the phrase "Be the Ball". This is truly a case of "Be the Plant". LOL
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Old May 1, 2014   #7
b54red
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ContainerTed View Post
The best time to water is when you can get natural rain in that area of the country - which means about anytime. I would only avoid watering in a manner that will get the foliage wet, when the sun will return and start "teaming the veggies" before that foliage can dry. Plants that are obviously in distress may need water just to cool them off.

So, listen to your plants. I promise that if you listen correctly, they will tell you what they need and when they need it.

The movie "Caddyshack" coined the phrase "Be the Ball". This is truly a case of "Be the Plant". LOL
Ted, that is exactly the way to decide when and how much fertilizer to apply. I use mostly Texas Tomato Food applied with an Ortho dial sprayer where the dilution rate can be changed in a second. I just walk along applying the fertilizer under the plants and try to gauge what each plant needs as I go.

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Old May 1, 2014   #8
Ed of Somis
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heir alluded to the issue of the plants drying quickly after watering. That is spot on. Fungal issues with tomatoes are common. I noticed when I re-located my garden to include morning sun...my results were: no disease issues.
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Old May 1, 2014   #9
bower
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I try to water late morning, due to the advice given here:
http://ag.arizona.edu/ceac/sites/ag....20tomatoes.pdf
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Old May 1, 2014   #10
Moshou
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My experience says the best time to water is early in the morning
Drip irrigation allows you to water until 10-11 am.
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Old May 4, 2014   #11
Tracydr
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I do both on containers when it's hot. I'm actually trying to increase humidity around my plants to ward off spider mites and improve fruit set!
Keep in mind, though, our dew point is way below the night time lows. I've never seen dew in AZ. Maybe a little during the winter if we have rainy weather. (Rare)
This winter was dry and now, we have humidity in the low single digits, I think. I've seen it down to 3%.
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