From the russian variant of Wikipedia (translation):[citate]Hydrometeorological believe that the summer period shall begin the transition the average daily air temperature 15 degrees Celsius in an upward and ends - the transition of the same mark in a downward [/end of citate],(average daily temp. - it`s need take the maximum daily temperature, add a minimum night and split in half. So, 22+11:2= 15,5.OK, but 20+8:2= 14! Plus, the cold dew, even when no rain. Unfortunately, the English-language Wikipedia is not the text, but it is written:[citate]the U.S. summer season is commonly regarded as beginning on Memorial Day weekend (the last weekend in May) and ending on Labor Day weekend (the first weekend in September), more closely in line with the meteorological definition.[/end of citate] But for hippeastrum not important calendar dates, but the temperature, since at temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius they have stopped growing season and they go into hibernation, when all biological and biochemical processes are inhibited. In this state, the plant can not protect themselves from attacks by pathogens. In their natural habitats at this time, a period of drought. Under dry conditions, disease spores do not germinate, so do not get sick hippeastrum. Which tropics can tell when the night temperatures drop below 10 degrees Celsius?

It really depends on a lot of factors. First you have to define bottled water and tap water. There are a lot of different sources of the generic term bottled water. Some bottled waters are actually just tap water that a city has bottled, while others are spring water, or water that has been purified in some manner. Others may have been created from a combination of sources, such as tap water that's been purified. The tap water depends on if you're in a city or on a well, how hard or soft the water is in the area, how old the pipes are and what material they're composed of, and if the city adds chlorine or other chemicals to the water. If you want to do the project correctly you'll have to address these factors. It may be better to narrow the scope to something simpler like is spring water from X spring better than tap water from Y city.

I prefer to start willows and poplars in water. Starting in soil generally has a significantly lower success rate. Ideally with both, I put them in a bucket of water in the shade, and check a couple times a week, potting them up when they show root nubs about 1/8" long. Pussywillow in soil has about a 70% success rate. Which means with 500 #1 pots, I have 150 pots to pull out of the matrix, empty, clean, refill. By starting in water, the ones that don't sprout are chucked before I've done much work. Balsam poplar is similar. I wanted about 30 large rooted whips this year, so I cut 60 5 foot whips in early spring, put them in water. A month later they had nubs, so I potted them up. Ended up with 34. The others never showed any sign of rooting.

I watered everything with a sprinkler last year once it was planted in my garden, and didn't get any diseases that I know of, until I got late blight right at the end of the season. But the slugs made up for it. This year I did some overhead watering of some tomato seedlings, and probably got some kind of fungal thing because of it. I think it'll be alright, but I won't do it again. I got the leaves really wet btw, and I'm pretty sure it was later in the day, so the sun didn't dry it out right away. When I was working in my garden the other day, I was paying attention to the sun and soil moisture. I had a new bed where the soil was still moist after turning the grass over, and once the sun started hitting it, the surface dried out very quickly. So now I know why it's important to water at a time when the sun has a chance to dry out the surfaces of soil and leaves. Especially if you're watering overhead, and going to get the leaves wet. And why morning sun is preferable to evening sun, since the morning sun will dry out leaves that are damp with morning dew.