Weekly Garden Tip

October 29, 2006

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

Water in the landscape is essential for good growth and now that we’re firmly entrenched in our dry season many communities are not receiving regular showers like we did earlier in the year. Make sure if you have an irrigation system that it’s operating properly so you don’t get dry spots developing in turfgrass or have plants in the shrub island that don’t receive their proper irrigation and start to wilt or discolor.

Even though we should be getting several inches of rain this month, it may not come evenly and you may go for a while between showers. Most turfgrass areas should receive watering about every three days this time of year and if you’re watering more than that you’re simply wasting water and rinsing out fertilizer, too, which requires replacement.

Shrubs and trees generally if they’re well established need watering about every 5 days unless they are newly planted areas that you have to water several times a week. If you have flower beds that are mulched, this will further decrease the need for regular watering. In my own property where mulch layers can be anywhere from 4 to 8 inches deep I often go a week to ten days between irrigations if we’re not getting rainfall and the plants do quite well and show no signs of water stress.

If you have container plants, depending on the type of mix they’re planted in, they may drain very quickly and require frequent irrigation or the potting mix may hold water good enough that you can get by on once every 5 to 7 day watering. If you have large containers, remember the top dries out quickly but lower down in the container soil dries out slowly and you may be able to stretch it 10 days or longer between irrigations.

When watering container plants always irrigate long enough to wet the entire soil mix all the way down to the bottom of the pot. The pot should also have drain holes so the excess water can run through. If you have container plants in large saucers after one day if there’s still standing water in the saucer it should be removed so it doesn’t keep the bottom portion of the container completely saturated and injure roots.

Some plants in the landscape because of their rapid growth need irrigation very often even at this time of year to keep up with the growth. Other slower growing plants can go for longer periods between irrigation and you learn through experience with your landscape which plants need a little bit more attention and which ones can almost be totally ignored.

If you’re putting in new plants, try and match new plant’s water needs with the existing ones in those areas. Otherwise you can run into problems where some plants are getting what they want while others may not get the correct amount or they may receive too much.

If you need specific information on the irrigation needs of any landscape plants, contact the Palm Beach County Extension office for free information. Dial 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.