Watering Tomato Plants - Guidance Needed

[OldGuy43]

Remember - I'm a real novice at gardening. I think I have a tendency to over water everything. How much water do tomato's want/need? Please don't tell me things like "Keep the soil moist." One man's moist is another man's soggy. That answer also begs the question, "How deep should the soil be moist?"

What I'm hoping for here is a number, like 1/2" per week. That way I can put a rain gauge in the middle of the bed.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[so lucky]

I'm thinking more like an inch per week? But I do know, once they are established, they benefit from watering deep, and less often, as opposed to a little every day. Makes the roots go deeper in search of water, thus protects them if circumstances prevent you from watering them for a while.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

I think the standard advice is 1" a week. But this is Texas after all, so I usually go for closer to 2" a week when it's really warm out.

 

[so lucky]

Oh yeah. I didn't notice where OldGuy43 was posting from. I don't know how you manage to grow anything at all in that hot dry Texas sun. :/

 

[The Mama Chicken]

Ha ha, sometimes it's hot and humid, which has a whole other set of problems.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some people just have to have a number! But I can understand that. It takes time to gain experience to where you can use your finger to test the soil. Common sense just does not work unless you have experience to base that common sense on. The standard depth to test is your first knuckle. If the soil is dry when you stick your finger in to the first knuckle, it is time to water. But you're right. Damp to me might be not be damp to you.

The right amount of water for you will depend on your specific soil and circumstances. 1" per week is the "standard" answer. I suggest you try that, be reasonably consistent, and see how it goes. Make adjustments if needed.

For your rain gauge to work, you would have to use a sprinkler. Rain or a sprinkler can knock dirt up off the ground onto the plant. That soil might carry disease. Several people had blight problems a couple of years ago, for example. But I did not. My mulch kept the dirt from splashing up on the plant. I know the basic problem a couple of years ago was that a major supplier of tomato plants produced diseased plants so that blight problem was mainly in Ohio and points noth and east of there, but a whole lot of other people in other parts of the country had blight problems that year. It was reported on this forum and my brother in Tennessee has his tomatoes wiped out by it. He was not in that distribution area.

Point being, if you mulch, you protect your plants and you probably have to water less. That 1" per week may be too much if you mulch real well. That's why I don't like hard and fast mumbers. Different conditions and different methods require different things.

 

[so lucky]

That's what we get in Southeast Missouri. I hope I am getting better acclimated to it this year. Sometimes I get so hot working outside, I have to come in and sit in the basement in front of the fan and drink cold water. (A/C is on) I'm too old to be getting hot flashes but my body doesn't know that. I don't know how the ladies in the olden days endured all those layers of clothes, and no A/C!! Oops, way off topic! Sorry...

 

[desertlady]

I am in the desert, I have to deep water it every morning and wet it again at night.

 

[momofdrew]

All the books say 1" a week but there are so many variables...how high the temps are, how humid, how windy, cloudy day or sunny day, how deep the mulch or no mulch at all... using a rain guage is ok if you get regular rain or use a sprinkler... I will dig out a 3 inch hole to check on how moist it is when in doubt...

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

It also depends on where your plants are growing. If they're in a small raised bed or a container they'll need much more water. All mine that are in containers get watered at minimum every other day, daily when it gets real hot and dry (for the 3 days that we have real summer up here!). Smaller raised beds, every 2-3 days. In ground... hardly ever because it usually rains here often enough.

I watered mine way too much one year and they started to turn yellow and I stunted their growth. Don't water that much!