Water Water Water: When & How much

​In the landscape business of Plant Zone 8b of sunny Charleston, South Carolina most of my clients believe it or not are transplants.  The most common mistakes made by plant lovers new to the area have to do with underestimating the sun and the heat. And how do we battle the heat here in Charleston, South Carolina…. water.  We beat the heat on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean, floating down the Edisto, in the water of the beer at Shem Creek or gigging frogs in the swamps of the Low Country. We cannot live without water and unless you are a Xeriscaper, neither can your plants.

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1. When?  I get asked quite frequently when is the best time of day to water your landscape.  Households with a drip line irrigation system have the luxury of watering at any old time because the root of the plant is being watered directly.   Now if there is an issue with water pressure it would be best to set your system for bright and early in the a.m., before everyone gets up and gets going for the day; i.e. showering, running the dishwasher, getting ready to go make some money.  As for the others whom will be watering by hand, any water is better than no water at all.  However, during the hottest part of the year it would be more beneficial to water in the morning than the afternoon.  Sometimes if the water doesn’t dry completely off the leaves of your shrubbery and/or trees (because the humidity is awesome) it has the possibility of burning up the leaves.  Same concept applies to those using spray insecticides and fungicides.
2. Quantos – How Much?  Easy question, not a definitive answer.  How much should be based upon site, environmental factors, time of year and personal preference.  Obviously you should water more in the summer months (June-August) than the spring and summer and hardly at all in the winter months.  Watering more means for longer, more minutes, and more frequently, more times per week. 

Most general Automated Drip Line Systems use hoses should be set at 18-20 minutes about 4x’s per week in the summer for new installs and a little less for existing landscapes (7+ years of age).I once had a customer who felt that it worked better for his yard to water 10-12 minutes every day as opposed to double the time every other day, this is personal preference and completely up to you.For those of us watering by hand, obviously soaking the root ball of each plant is beneficial and it is key to pay attention to your plants.

Plants planted downhill or at a lower grade than the lawn, house or other plants will receive more water due to surface runoff than those on top of a hill.Plants suited for our zone do pretty well in the constant high humidity.It is when there is a significant increase in the fluctuation between low to high humidity levels that I feel their needs to be more water applied to plant material.

It is up to you to pay attention to your landscape and determine if it needs more or less water.  Using the above factors will help you when starting to figure out set minutes and frequency, every landscape is different, because every location has a different sun orientation, existing elements to contend with and so on and so forth. 

Have you found a watering schedule that works great for you? Share and help a fellow transplant.