watering when hot

doody

I found myself scratching my head at something I read in Amy Liang's book "The Living Art Of Bonsai". She seems to think that the suns energy is incapable of burning leaves. She sais that watering at noon on a hot summers day will not burn leaves but instead help cool the tree. Something about water evaporating faster than it getting hot enough to actually burn. She also sais that burning of leaves is cauced by neither reflection of water or heated water but by dehydration. So in her conclusion, because transpiration is rapid on the leaf surface, watering at the hottest hour of a hot day is benificial.
This does make some sence to me but I thought it best to get some oppinions before I go destroying all my babies.

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bonsaial1

Amy is quite correct. The leaf burn is usually attributed to wind or poor soil or both. I water my trees in the hottest part of the day sometimes and never expierance leaf burn due to the hot sun. I took a large elm grove to Hanford last week to prune it at the club meeting. Hanford is about 55 miles from my house. I went by way of the freeway. The elms had some shoots about 6" long sticking out from everywhere. When I reached the club, the shoots had no leaves on them. The 60 mile per hour 95 degree wind storm that I had subjected these poor trees to had dried out all the leaves and blew them right off the stems. When I got the tree into the building all I had to do was cut off the bare stems. It had dried out the leaves right to the sillouete of the tree.

You must develop a watering habit of your own. Water the trees at the same time of day. If you don't want to water when its hot then water in the morning. Under watering will cause leaf burn in maples, and overwatering will cause the leaves to turn yellow. Hope this helps, Bonsaial

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doody

Bonsaial, for the last three months haven't kept a watering schedule as far as time of day. Sometimes I water in the AM and sometimes in the PM. Can you please tell me the benefits of watering the same time?

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"What we see depends mainly on what we look for", because "Creation and art are defined only by the boundaries we confine ourselves"

both quotes written by authors unknown

denny

i read that in living art and also in golden statements.
i water in the am for fear of proprogating fungus by the soil staying too wet all night.
i also go out and spray down all my container plants at the hottest part of the day,they love it,and i never expirenced burn at all.

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Denny
Still Growing in zone 9
So.Cal.

Earl

I am interested in this discussion and hope a bunch of people will respond. I have found that if I water in the morning ( when it's 90+ out) many of the plants are dry when I get home from work so I have to water in the evening anyway. However, I have been experimenting with watering and have figured out that if I water really well at night they make it through to the next evening, saving a watering.

I, too, have read about the fungus thing so have resisted eve. waterings. But when it's so hot and dry, even if it gets down to 50 I don't see where fungi can get a start. Now in the Willamette Valley (here in OR) where moss grows on the sides of houses I can see a potential problem with fungi.

So please respond, people. This is a good question!

GaryS

Watering bonsai is a science all to itself. There are so many factors. Soil mix in the container, the
type of container each bonsai is in, the orientation of the bonsai to the sun and shade, the plant type,
wind, lack of wind, geographical location, season of the year, etc. That's why everyones watering situation is different. I live in Wisconsin, grow a variety of different plants in slightly different soil mixes, sometimes the wind in howling out of the North, West, or South.

Sping is easy for me. Once a day for everything that needs it. Summer is different. All the trees get morning sun and then half the benches are shaded by a big old Sugar Maple from 2:00-5:00 PM. I locate my maples on the shady side of the bench and the conifers on the Sunny side. If it's windy that dries them out quicker. Right now I water what's needed in the morning and then check them at lunch time, especially on windy, hot, sunny days. I also check them in the evening and usually soak them down or soak the ones that need it. I also have a misting nozzle that is indispensible. I mist them til they are glistening with little balls of water. Keeps the mites at bay.

There are no easy answers when it comes to watering bonsai.

DRAM misting fogger

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bonsaial1

The average nightime temp during summer here is about 60 degrees. Though in the middle of summer it can still be over 80degrees after midnight. Not much chance of fungus here. I water the same time everday because I can tell at a glance how the soil looks and know it a tree is needing maybe two times a day or not. Some of my shohin have been looking pretty dry at 5pm. If I change around and water at 2pm one day and then the next morn at 6am before I go to work, soon I would lose track and maybe overwater some trees and miss others. This is just a habit with me, something I have done for the last 19 years. Changing now would be like trying to teach my hound a new trick. Besides, why would I want to break a habit? I think misting could be done on a irregular basis with no ill effects. AK

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Shambhala

That's weird, I always refrain from watering when the sun is at it's brightest. Not only do most pepole tell you this, but I have come across this in many books. I suppose the person who wrote the opposite is correct, because although I used to think water on the leaves would magnify the light hitting them, they would evaporate so fast that it wouldn't make a difference.

hmmmm

Hoser

Here in Kansas, there is an omnipresent wind. There is rarely a day in spring and summer that is calm. And the rate of evaporation will change dramatically from day to day. This makes establishing a regular watering schedule nearly impossible to achieve. Because of this, I have developed a simple approach to watering: if the trees need watering, then water them, regardless of what time it is. Even if it is true that the afternoon sun will scorch foliage, a few scorched leaves is negligible damage compared to a fully dried out root ball. Since I don't have a watering schedule per-say, I need to check my trees 3 to 4 times a day. This requires a fair bit of attention, but that's one of the main reasons I like bonsai .

Just a few thoughts,
Hoser