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Just want some advice on watering the plants in my greenhouse as I'm new to this...I've got tomatoes and chillies and cucumbers and wondered do i need to water them everyday...it's been pretty hot for the past week, and I'm not sure if I need to give them water every day or every few days. The soil is moist so I've just left them.

Also not sure whether it's best to fill the trays they are sitting in with water or water them onto the soil - which is better for the plant?

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Eskymo, Even though we are not having a good summer i have watered my peppers and tomatoes every day. I water directly into the pots as I don't think its a good idea to leave plants sitting in water in case it rots the roots. Someone else may think differently. I also water them in the morning so they are not soaking wet when it gets cold at night time. Hope this may help you.

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And when you're back stops aching,
And you're hands begin to harden.
You will find yourself a partner,
In the glory of the garden.

Rudyard Kipling.

i've been watering everything in the greenhouse every morning and some evenings - remember it's in the greenhouse so pots etc will dry out quicker even on wet / damp days

an "old pro" came over today to give me a bit of advice - he said you can't drown tomatoes - dunno if thats true or not, but basically give them loads of water

i'm going away for the weekend - gonna set up drip feeders using old milk bottles - got to set them up friday evening before i go, but don't want them to drip dry overnight - so, plan is to fill the bottles and freeze them tomorrow, then set them up tomorrow evening just before i go - they'll thaw out overnight and should drip out saturday daytime .... i'll be back sunday afternoon and hopefully all will be ok .....

Very imgenious............hope it works ok!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Won't the icy water be too cold?

I was told that you should use ambient temperature water, that is why watering in the evening from a butt is supposed to be 'best' the sun has warmed the water.....

You're only going away for a weekend...At the end of the month I'm going away for 2 weeks!!! I have no idea what I'm going to do. I bought one of those tank drip irrigation kits and going to try and set it up today, so that I can test it thoroughly for a week and get it tweeked to drip at the appropriate rate.

I've got all my plants sitting in large sankey gravel gray [no gravel though] and so was going to fill these with water the day before I leave, but not sure if that will be necessary if the drip irrigation kit works.

I have got some people coming to stay, but they're not gardeners.

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dunno - but don't wanna leave them all weekend without water ....


i understood evening watering was about less evaporation ....??

Personally I am very careful about watering tomatoes and chillies. If tomatoes get too wet it can make blight more likely. I tend to water tomatoes little and often, if they get very wet and then very dry the fruits can crack. Chillies hate gatting too wet so I only water when they need it.

Everything else just gets hosed liberally

My next door neighbour did have drowned tomatoes. He lost his in the heavy rains we had a couple of weeks ago. His greenhouse is surrounded by hard landscaping but mine, at the same level, has gravel around and the water drained from mine. I've been a good neighbour though and stuck a couple of big sideshoots that sprang up over my holiday into pots for him as cuttings. They seem to have taken so I'll surprise him tomorrow. (I think I do quite often, but not in this way!)

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Updated November 30th - Mr Stinky's Excellent Adventure (and a Christmas Cake)

Watering in the evening is good for outdoor plants (less evaporation) but not so good for greenhouse crops, especially if they're in pots. My toms and chillies are in large pots, stood on plastic saucers, and I water into the saucers. This has worked well every year until this one, and although the chillies are looking good, the toms are pathetic.

My greenhouse plants are in a mix of pots and beds. I water either every evening or alternate evenings with water from the waterbutt - which has warmed slightly through the day. I also leave the door and windows wide open to improve ventilation and cool the daytime temperatures down. So far so good, but it certainly suits the tomatoes better than the chillies and peppers.

i had a change of plan ...
got a drip feeder system (up to 36 plants), rigged up 120 foot of hosepipe and hooked it up to the big waterbutt outside my garage
just checked and most pots seem moist, nothing soaking wet, all looks ok

must set up waterbutts outside the greenhouse ...