When is the Best Time to Water Your Garden? 

I try to emulate nature’s way. In my area 90% of the rain happens on the evening. So, then is when i water. But, if it looks like the plant needs water mid day, i’ll give it water mid day.

It's interesting how many myths prevail. I water when i have time :) And of course, we can carefully time our watering, then the rain ignores our careful plans.

The deeper I drill down on this channel, the more I grin when I hear the phrase "it depends." Spray water to treat infection, soak roots to reduce heat, and water when you have time to do it well. The trick is in the knowing of what is needful in the moment.

I’m in southern California and decided to do wicking raised beds. So far I don’t have to overhead water. Top soil feels dry, but 3-4” deep soil is moist.

Here in Texas when it needs it, and that's a lot. :)

I’m in South Mississippi, and I often water in the heat of the day. My plants appreciate being cooled off from the intense heat, and my garden is thriving way more since I started doing this.

After watching your videos, my work efficiency improved by 1000-fold. I can't thank God enough for introducing you to me. Being my teacher, you will always be in my prayers. Stay blessed! 💕

It seems that plants have been thriving on this planet with random rains for a long time. I just water when needed anytime and don't have any issues. I grow a wide variety of plants.

I water when I can. And rain here can be anytime of day although June-August is mostly afternoon and evening. Never had a problem with burning from watering.

We water at night. Best time for healthy plants and lawns. Seattle.

I started a wildflower meadow on my property. I agree. I find that watering in the day, the soil dries out in minutes and it’s such a waste. I water in the evening for the same reasons as you mentioned. Plants actually do most of their growing at night anyways, and they need the moisture most, then.

In support of what you're saying, I planted this year 25 pumpkin plants and covered the whole garden surface with 3 large bales of straw (Soil naturally has a lot of sand in the mix, used sheep manures the previous autumn) Once the plants got big enough, I would water the whole area every few days by spraying high up in the air and making rain! Always somewhere around 10am - 1pm Never had a single issue with any plant disease, never used any pesticides, I just let the fern plants spring up and grow with the pumpkins (I live beside the woods) It worked perfectly

for sure, water when they need it! I pretended I was an afternoon shower the other day, not a thunderstorm watering tho! love your videos, TY!

It’s fairly dry where I live, and being aware that 95% of gardening advice doesn’t apply to my climate, I’ve always figured it out for myself. If I water, I do it in the late evening- that’s just logical. I’ve never seen black spot of powdery mildew except in pictures.

I water whenever I can, and mych more so in hot weather. I always am feeling the various soils for moisture levels. Happy gardening

you, sir, are a gem.

I've found if you are going to water, water 1 hour before sunset. At that time my plants are looking for water as the leaves and stems are beginning to "bend or curl". After watering the plants look "happy". By morning they look healthier and larger and so the cycle continues. It's OK to skip a day or so depending on the weather and temperature.

Awesome video. Rob didn't touch how watering time impacts slugs. When I water in the evening, I see significantly more slugs roaming around compared to when soil is dry.

There's another important point to bear in mind... scientific studies have shown that plants absorb the most nutrients in the morning, between 6 and 11 am, so it's a good idea to water in the morning. For those with automatic watering systems, it would be a good idea to divide the watering in two, one in the morning and the other in the evening.

We are in a severe drought in my area despite local weather saying moderate in WI. I try to water the base of plants, but I’ve discovered a new problem and noticed this in 2012 drought and that’s rodents attacking those wet areas. Because insects are also attracted to water in dry times. The birds attack these areas also. It’s been so difficult this year. I’ve never seen a Vole in my life til this year and they are Way worse than gophers. I don’t know where they came from, but they are not welcomed! I haven’t seen a mole in years after using milky spore and never in my garden Especially raised bed! Well this year we did and it went all along the beds, up into the beds and back out to go through in ground vegetables. What a mess. We got him and was it huge! So what I think was birds at first I believe is actually a vole from trails and tunnels. Hope it’s in the trap today or I won’t have a garden. So I think watering in drought is better to water a large area to not all in the rodents. As far as time of day, I like early morning or evening. I do try to keep the water off leaves in evening, but if you get cool foggy nights you’ll end up with mildew anyways. I’m sick of watering at this point. I watched several radars last night anticipating a cloud hitting us and Nothing! Not 1 drop! I don’t think they can tell the weather anymore unless it’s right on top of them. Just like they never warned of frost before Memorial Day that wiped out many plants. We had 90s and we’ll after our frost date. This El Niño pattern is horrible. About burned leaves- I had a few bean leaves that had large white splotches and wondered if it was from watering in daytime. I also wondered if the water in the hose might have been to hot. It wasn’t leaf miner, but like a sunburn on a few leaves.

Great information, Thanks!

Slugs would have a field day if I watered in the evening. I don’t want it wet in the evening. Morning watering for me.

Great topic!

Wow! Here we have a classic case of the info given by Garden Fundamentals is contrary to what many of us have heard elsewhere. So, what do we do with that? Just because he is one of the few (maybe even the only one) saying that overhead watering can be beneficial in preventing mildew doesn't mean that he is wrong. I tend to think he is right, and I notice that he is a contrarian to many other gardening ideas too. Here's a quote from an article on powdery mildew posted on the Penn State Extension. the author is Gary Moorman, PhD: "Liquid water on leaves inhibits spore germination. " This opinion supports what GF is saying

Thank you so much

I grow palms and different subtropical and tropical fruits in a climate that is a bit colder than whats ideal. I live in desert so the tempratures between night and day are very different. Watering at night in winter in my instance is not very wise since it drops to 32f quite often in January and it heats up to 70-90 in the day. Cold + wet = root rot or other diseases for these types of plants. Another thing about watering at night is that the area around the plants will be more humid therefore making the cold affect the plants a great deal more especially during a really cold night.

Thanks

My first year with container vegetables, I'm watering before 10am, last year I was watering flower beds at night, created mold on the mulch.

I work at night, so i do it when i can. Last year i did it in the afternoon, and this year im watering in the morning, and it seems last year my plants did better.

Hi..... Chatham here..... I just recently found ur videos and u def make things more clear than most others. Thank you. I hope I understood that right .......watering is better at night because it's cooler and such. I've only been growing a few veggies since last yr and by Aug, early blight got to them. Most gardeners say it's because the water splashed up on the plant......is that ur thoughts as well? Indeterminate tomatoes look really awful when u have to cut away most of the leaves and even still, it did not stop it from spreading. But, at least I got a few fresh tomatoes. Thank you.... I've already learned a lot from u. 👍🏻

Where I live it might rain any time of day, for various amounts of time and various amounts, how do I control that?

Read powdery mildew happens with hot humid days with cool nights.

Early morning. Watering in the evening allows fungus to grow rather than evaporate off the leaves quickly and for some grasses, that's a death nell.

I suppose this doesn't apply for indoor growing. In indoor, you water right before lights are turned ON because plants don't use water during night. Water consumption is tied to temperature and light intesity. You want to get as much water as possible out of the medium before "night" because of ideal water/oxygen cycle especially in hydro rockwool. Btw, how about foliar? Morning because of higher humidity = opened stomatas?

Evening I believe

What time do farmers water their crops?

I find it amusing gardeners will argue avout watering plants. If a plant needs water then water it.

How about tropical country?

I water when I have time and see my plants need water no specific time it rains when it wants so I do the same

👍👍👍Thank you

at what time are plants more suited to drink all the water it has access to? isnt that the question we should try to answer?

Early Morning! burns if during the day...wet at night does cause mildew and disease...the BEST system is a drip system, then any time works well, especially with landscape fabric over ground...TOPS don't need water as much as the roots do...JUST MY TAKE!

Most fungus diseases occur when it's hot out and plants are wet. I wouldn't water mid day due to that alone.

He never said anything

Am I the only one who just wasted 12.11 minutes, this guy talks a lot and says nothing.

If it rains for a week then watering times don't matter.