How to water your plants

How to water has been a big topic of conversation lately, especially because of concerns about the drought. In general, the best way to water your plants is with a drip system. Drip systems give you the ability to really deep water your plants, with very little run-off or evaporation. The biggest problem we see with drip systems is that many people don't know how to program them to be most effective.

How often you run your drip system really depends on the season. Summer will require watering more often than cooler seasons. It can also vary depending on soil type and type of plants.

Here is a cheat sheet for generally how to run your drip system:

Summer: 3 times per week for 30 minutes each time

Spring and Fall: Twice per week for 30 minutes each time

Winter: Manually as needed, probably only every couple of weeks if it doesn't rain.

Keep in mind that these instructions are for plants that are planted in the ground. Container plants have different needs, which is why if you have a lot of potted plants and you want them on drip, you really need to put them on a separate station so you can program them differently. (Most drip systems have 2 or 3 stations that can be separately programmed). Potted plants need water more often, probably every day during summer, but you would only run it for 5 or 10 minutes. One other thing to note: if you have drought tolerant plants, they will not need water as often. Most drought tolerant plants, once established, will only need water once or twice per week during the summer. Cactus would be even less often.