Does a plant drink water from the leaf?

[bill]

When we water the tomato plants does it matter if we water the leaves? Do the tomato plants "feel" the water when it's "on" the leaf? Can they absorb the water from the leaf? Or only from the ground (roots)?

[songbird]

yes.

i don't think plants have a nervous system, but they do communicate via chemical signals in various ways. do they "feel"? i do not know.

yes, a small amount, depends upon plant type/species.

mostly from the ground.

consider this, some plants are indeed water plants and grow while being entirely submerged. also there are the arid dessert plants which have a very thick and waxy coating so that they don't lose much water from the leaf surfaces.

as to the question should you water the leaves that also has a lot of possible answers. in some cases watering the plant will rinse off dust and other debris, it may also cool the plant down which during really hot weather can be a help for pollinating. i do this with the tomatoes during hot weather and get a crop when many others don't and a part of that is due to me being willing to get the plants wet. the downside is that it can also encourage disease problems. this season being a pretty bad one so i'm seeing disease pressure that is worse than normal.

such is life...

songbird

[T]

Hi Bill,

I have seen organic farmers drench away, but they were in fancy temperature and light controlled greenhouses.

Tomatoes originally came from the Amazon (then cultivated all over the Andies), so they are use to getting drenched by rainfall on a daily basis, but the Amazon has great drainage so they did not stay wet for long periods.

A farmer told me to think of plants as straws. They suck water up from the soil and expel it OUT the bottom of their leaves (they have little vent holes), so no they do not absorb water into their leaves. It is the other way around.

Me personally, I would not drench the plant. I spray at their dirt. I do not want then poached (steamed to death) in the sunlight or molding in the dark.

I have a rule of thumb, if the leaves seem a bit wilted during the late afternoon, they get more water next time. Wilting is the plant's way of protecting itself when it gets dehydrated.

And it is the plants way of communicating with you: "Slave! Slave! More Water! He keep this up and we are all moving to Songbird's garden. He has worms! Slave! Slave!"

Disclaimer. I have a "black thumb". Anything I say is instantly trumped by the experts on this group, especially Songbird.

HTH,

-T

[Boron Elgar]

The wilt is so bad this year that I have promised myself to plant only resistant tomatoes next year. I am getting tired of losing the plants so early.

[T]

The ONLY tomato I can grow are Sweet 100's. Every other attempt winds up in disaster. Blossom rot, miniature tomatoes, yada, yada, yada. But the 100's I get a jungle and tons of fruit. Other cherries: disaster.

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

i'm not actually that well educated about plants compared to many here, but i do admit that i've had some experience reading about them and growing them in my life.

here where i am i think has some of the toughest conditions aside from those who are out west and trying to grow things in an arid climate. arid is much easier if you have a reliable and non-salty source of water. around here we have humidity and water at times when you really don't need or want it - like when your dry bean crop is drying down...

our little plot of land here is in a low spot, the fogs and dews and cold air settles in here so that it is rare that any plant is dry for long.

at least today has moderated in temperature and humidity and it is near perfect out there. this is the first day in a long time that i've sat in a chair outside for longer than a moment's time and not felt like i'd rather be hiding inside from the heat and humidity.

songbird

[songbird]

Boron Elgar wrote: ...

even resistant plants may not keep it away entirely. it just helps. here it is so endemic that i have no hope of ever keeping a tomato plant green much past mid-August.

i've eaten parts of three ripe tomatoes (they all had BER) and one entire green tomato that somehow got knocked off a plant and it was too nice to throw it away. a little butter and garlic salt and microwaved for 3 minutes and that was some good eats. :)

songbird

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

for difficult areas cherry tomatoes and kin are the ones most likely to get something. smaller sometimes does mean better. :)

the unfortunate thing about Sweet 100s is that they aren't all that great for making tomato juice, but if you add some to a batch of other tomatoes you are using to make juice they can sweeten it up.

songbird

[songbird]

T wrote: ...

i forgot to mention that sometimes people can do ok with some of the other smaller tomatoes (often called patio tomatoes) that are a step up from cherry tomatoes. so if you look into the various varieties of those and see if some are suitable for your climate they might be worth a dry. just for a change of pace. :)

songbird

[T]

We eat them like candy!

[T]

I tried some of those this year. Bought three off them. All died. Mumble, Mumble.