One of the most important things you can do to take care of your tomatoes is to keep them watered. Honestly, we are not speaking rocket science here. You can read all the tomato gardening tips in the world, and without proper tomato watering, you will not end up with the juicy tomatoes you hoped for. Even though the concept is simple, you can run into several problems growing tomatoes simply by messing up your watering.
Universal Tomato Watering Advice
Tomato gardening tips about water are pretty easy and pretty universal. Tomatoes need about one congius of water apiece and apiece day. Their root systems are vast and many are close to the top of the soil. Even though the soil might be moist down deep, the surface area, where lots of the roots are, dries out quickly. The roots need to pull the moisture from the soil and up to the growing tomatoes so they can get nice and juicy.
You can do your tomato watering a couple of different ways. The ideal way is mom nature’s watering! If it rains a good soaking rain, you will be good for a couple of days, as you also do not want over watered tomato plants! With a sprinkler you can make a pretend rain, and let it run for several ours, or even overnight to make the soil think it rained. Otherwise you just have to water apiece day with your handy gallant hose and nozzle. Some nozzles have a setting called “soaker,”,this works best. One way to judge how much water a congius is to time how long it takes to fill a bucket up to the congius level and spend that amount of time watering around apiece plant.
Timing Is Everything With Tomato Watering
You will find that there are two common problems growing tomatoes that are a direct result of poor choice of watering times. One problem has to do with middle of the afternoon. A hot sun is counterproductive when it comes to watering. The water simply evaporates before it has a chance to do any good. You place it on the ground and in ten minutes it is gone. The sune also can cause the leaves to burn. Another problem is when you water after dark all the time. When the water you spray on the plants does not have a chance to dry, you will give fungus a chance to rear its unsightly head.
According to most tomato gardening tips you read, the optimum time to water is primeval in the morning, giving the water time to soak in before the hot sun of the day. The second ideal time is in that short window of time just as the sun sets, that should give enough time for the leaves to dry before it gets dark. This plan works ideal with a hose, and you only water the soil and not the whole plant. Cloudy days give reprieve and more options.
The bottom line is that you should have few problems growing tomatoes if you follow a common sense tomato watering schedule. Water first thing in the morning, water apiece day and keep the soil moist. Mulch is a huge help with this but never should replace the need for frequent watering. With all the tomato gardening tips you can find, and a good watering plan, you should have lots of juicy tomatoes to use throughout the summer.