My plants are still pretty small so I water about every day or every other. Our weather was hot so then I watered daily. As the plants get knee high or so, I'll cut back until the plants look thirsty. Perhaps cut back again to watering weekly, but I doubt that is feasible in hot weather. I have only one drip emitter per plant and weekly watering may not be enough. I have mulched heavily this year and will continue to add grass clippings as I mow.

I hope this helps.

I stick my finger in the soil up to my first knuckle. If it's dry there, I water, if it's moist, I don't.

Sounds simple.... because it really is!

Right now I only need to water about once per week doing this, but that changes depending on what mother nature gives us.

We have had sufficient rains and cool temperatures lately so I am not watering at all. It is starting to get dry, so I may water tomorrow after I get the mulch and fertilizer side dress on. Note that I water using buried 2-liter water bottles as I have explained in the past. Even in the summer I don't need to water daily. I do the same finger in the dirt method jw mentions for my garden. I test the moisture in several beds at the same time because some areas tend to dry out faster than others. Also, as plants grow they require more water, and nutrients for that matter.

Right now? Not at all as there has been plenty of rain. Young plants don't tolerate frequent watering well - just leads to shallow rooting and root rot so austinnhanasmom please don't water your plants daily or even every other day. They will thank you for it. ;)

Infrequent, deep watering is much better for the plants. And, of course, if you mulch the plants, even less frequent watering is needed.

And air temps really are not really relevant either - soil temps and soil moisture levels are - so the old stick your finger deep into the dirt is the best way to go.

Dave

It rarely rains on my garden:((

I have to hand wax my car to bring it and with two small ones, I rarely make time for that now;))

I'll try the finger in the dirt method, but I'm a girl and my fingers are short:))

Praying for a GREAT tomato season -

Deb

For very young seedlings you can't let them dry out completely but that is about it. They actually send down a good tap root pretty early at the first true leaves. I did kill one this year because it was in a sunny spot on a window sill in a small cup that I was planning to give away but the recipient and I forgot it. It dried all the way through and it was toast.

My plants are over a foot tall now so I don't even mind a few inches of dry soil. I would much rather go a little dry than a little wet. Plants bounce back quickly from being a bit dry but too wet can be deadly.

I also use a cheap water meter which allows me to get a feel for moisture in the 4-6" range. It does not seem to work in all soils but in mine it tends to give me a good idea about moisture.

This depends on a lot of factors...weather, plant size, sunlight exposure (not weather-related...plant placement), etc.. For reference, I filled 5 pitchers (beer pitcher I use for watering) full of water yesterday when I got home to water all my plants (including maters). I think maybe one full pitcher about went on my 7 mater plants.

- Steve

I put my tomatoes in the ground on April 18th. The last time I watered them was on April 18th. Granted, this has been a wet spring so far on upstate SC, but as was already said, tomatoes have deep roots that can find water pretty deep. Last year, even with temps in the high 90's or low 100's in a drought, I only had to water about every two weeks or so. I also have about 4 inches of mulch and will go a little deeper as the plants grow.

jj

jjs, how deep is your planting medium (you said "in the ground")? Do you have the same red clay base as we do up here by Raleigh?

Oh yes, it is red clay. Rock hard, concrete-like red clay to be exact. When I first started the garden 3 years ago, I tilled down about 12 inches into the clay (took several days)and added some pine bark fines (soil conditioner) and a lot of compost to try and fluff up the soil some. But when you consider in planting deep, there was only a couple of inches of "soft soil" under the plants. Believe me when I way it sounds easier than it was. But it was worth it. Now the worms have taken over and helped to aerate the soil and it is not too bad now.

One good thing about clay though is that it holds water and nutrients very well. You have to keep a good layer of mulch to keep the top layer from crusting though.

On the reverse, compaction can be a big problem, which is why my planting beds are mounded so that I don't walk in them. Maybe one year I can talk the wife into letting me make some good raised beds.

jj

"One good thing about clay..."

You must certainly be a "glass half full" kind of person! :-) I dread the tilling because of exactly what you describe, plus I have a lovely plethora of quartz mixed in with my clay yard. I had to do raised beds, and it will be interesting to see if the veg roots can penetrate or just remain spread within the beds.

You have to be I guess. Too much in this world is out of your control, I take what I can get and make the most of it. After all, you only live once.

I did make small raised beds for carrots and garlic that were about 8 inches deep. The roots seemed to go deeper than that and there certainly is a few rocks in there as well.

jj

Hi,
Went to two seminars given by Steve I think he knows what he is talking about 30 yrs in the business so I listened to what he said about watering let your plants tell you when they need water as to much water takes out oxygen from the soil so I went to his plan every 5 to 7 days has worked for me so far and temps have hit 90+ here so the plants are doing great he gave out some info on his handouts so I will pass them along seems like he will respond to your questions.
I got these off his web site:
www.gotomato.com
E-mail: www.steveg@gardencompass.com

I water deeply once a week using seeper hoses hooked up to an automated timer. They run for about an hour to equal about an inch of rain.
Depending on the weather, rainy etc....I adjust the watering regimen. Too much water too fast can result in cracking. I can control the water for now, but mother nature...ummm..different story.

Happy Gardening