Watering Shrubs Neccesary Daily in NE USA?

Question

I live in the NE USA and my front landscape consists of arborvitae's, junipers, holley's, a bloodgood, a cherry blossom, various small plants, etc. These all sit on the NE side of my home that gets mostly half sun/half shade. The cherry blossom and bloodgood gets more sun, in the range of about

3/4 sun and 1/4 shade.

Recently, I setup a neat little Nelson sprinkler system surrounding these shrubs and set a timer to sprinkle them twice a day at 7am and 7pm, for 15 minutes each session.

Should I be watering these shrubs this often, this long, or at all?

bamboo · Accepted Answer

That kind of watering practice leads to a very shallow root system withno real drought resistance.It would be better to have it lay down an inch of water in the morningso and it can dry off of the foliage whenever you see the soil is dry.Wet foliage overnight is a bad practice.Maybe 2" this time around it's been dry here.Increasing the organic material in your soil and adding a mulch wllalso help preserve soil moisture.

presley · Answer

If the shrubs are established (ie, if they have been in the ground for 2-3 years), they probably don't need any supplemental water at all. (Except perhaps in a prolonged drought - 3 weeks or more without rain). If they are newly planted, they should get an inch of water a week, every week that you don't get a rain storm where you are. After one year, they shouldn't need to be irrigated anymore, unless several weeks go by without rain. All of this is predicated on the idea that the plants are not underneath the eaves of the house. If they are underneath the eaves, then you need to water them regularly.

Billy · Answer

Ok, yes, they are established (2+ years). I just thought that a daily watering would make them appear more robust during the hot summer months, especially during a drought. However, I also have flowers under eaves which I'm going to setup sprinklers for too.

One more thing.....Is it possible to plant flowers such as petunias, marigolds or impatiens at the beginning os summer in June/July? Is this too late in the season since Spring has already passed and temperatures are getting hot? These plants will be sitting under these sprinklers and getting water daily.

Watering Shrubs Neccesary Daily in NE USA?

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