Daily foliage watering???

[iant]

I was poking around on an Aussie bonsai forum and decided to search under spider mites as it's been a problem for me here this year. (I know, you're thinking this is a cloaked spider mite thread!) I found someone in Australia complaining about them and he got advice on spraying trees with water. I've been given that advice before and have tried it a couple times but I never considered doing it every day. I have always felt that foliage watering daily would be inviting a bunch of problems (like fungal.) But being in dry California maybe my climate is more similar to the Aussies than to the East Coasters or the Europeans? Here are the quotes from the site:

"Try hosing the foliage with a good semi powerful soaker gun. Blast it from underneath and all angles. Every morning. I soak the foliage on all my trees every time I water and haven't had much problem with any infestation since I started doing it."

"I have noticed with my Azaleas that I have stopped getting problems with their leaves since I have been using foliage feeding. I don't know what effect you would get with your Chinese Elms. Foliage feeding them certainly won't hurt them, I foliage feed mine very regularly. If you give it a try I would also spray under the leaves."

"I can't speak for how it will work on your bonsai, but this is the only way I could get rid of the buggers from my cucumber plants. I sprayed the undersides of the leaves every morning and they were pretty much gone within in about 10 days."

"I do the same, when watering my trees, the leaves get a good spray of water from below, this has seemed to keep the pests at bay... at least in my garden."

So does anyone out there spray the foliage every time they water? Assuming the drought police don't come knocking maybe that's a good way to go? It's hard to imagine doing it as I just started doing the siphon daily feeding technique. Would be a bit of a hassle switching wands and taking off the siphon every time...
Anyone from dry California or Nevada or Arizona doing it?
Thanks,
Ian

 

[Cypress]

Wait... so you actively avoid touching the trunk and the foliage with water when you water?!??!? Why? Believe me, if any overwatering issue is going to cause fungal problems it will be in the overly wet soil. If the soil is overly wet for too long. It's probably more beneficial for certain species that their foliage be watered (misted) MORE often than their soil be fully water... junipers perhaps.

I mean... trees are outside... they get rained on. Watering the foliage will just knock bad stuff off of it anyways. I live in humid humid upstate ny and when I mist my trees that are outside the leaves are dry a couple hours later. Don't see how that moisture could hang around for long on your trees out in the dry southwest!

 

[bonsaiBlake]

i mist all of my trees with a spray bottle at least 2x a day. morning and night. I mix in fert and apply through mist every week and a half to 2 weeks. i only water my trees as needed, most are every other day to every 3 days. No fungus yet, fingers crossed

it's very, VERY, windy and extremely dry where i'm at, after fully misting trees will be dry within the hour.

 

[michaelj]

Right now, with strong winds and 100 degree temps even at the beach, I find myself putting the hose nozzle on fan and spraying the trees all over at least 3 times a day. Hopefully, cooler temps will follow soon and I can return to a saner schedule.

 

[M. Frary]

I spray mine everyday. Even if it rained.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I also mist several times a day when I'm home, and enlist help when I'm away!

Black pines get misted less, but everything else gets sprayed down very regularly. Those RMJ get misted 2-3 times per day, and watered once or twice a week...similarly with the JWP.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I also mist several times a day when I'm home, and enlist help when I'm away!

Black pines get misted less, but everything else gets sprayed down very regularly. Those RMJ get misted 2-3 times per day, and watered once or twice a week...similarly with the JWP.

Love the picture...

 

[M. Frary]

I also mist several times a day when I'm home, and enlist help when I'm away!

Black pines get misted less, but everything else gets sprayed down very regularly. Those RMJ get misted 2-3 times per day, and watered once or twice a week...similarly with the JWP.

I didn't know you were that short Brian. And very young looking too.

 

[fourteener]

Water the pot, water the foliage, water the pot. Ponderosa's are the exception. They like it dry, the rain/fog we have is enough for them.

 

[Eric Group]

I think it is a common misperception that fungus is caused by watering the leaves of your plants. In my experience fungal attacks occur either because the tree was exposed to that disease by being close to another plant that is infected or because the tree is unhealthy to begin with and that makes it a target for bugs, fungus... Everything. Now, if you leave an infected tree in an overly moist environment, in the shade where it never dries out and you over water the foliage... Things like Powdery Mildew may spread a little faster...

Many pests can be controlled with a strong spray of water- Aphids, Mites, ants, beetles... All can be knocked off a tree just by being sprayed.

I water the whole tree when I water. Most trees absorb a certain amount of moisture through their leaves/ needles. It makes sense to do it this way- it is pouring down rain right now where I live and I assure you the leaves are getting soaked! It won't cause any mildew issues, it will just lead to happy trees!

 

[fourteener]

I would add that it is possible to get too much water on trees that are bushy and overgrown with foliage. I have a friend who likes to mist daily and he has some trees that get a black fungus on them and then branches die off. In his case I really do think it's too much foliage, too much water, and we don't get the heat here to dry things out.

A reasonable amount of watering the foliage should't be a problem, but we are making canopies that are thicker than the yard tree getting rained on. I can imagine that some might be getting the canopy too wet. Something wet 24/7 is likely to develop fungal problems.

 

[crust]

Misting: Overall I have experienced plantian happiness if I can mist. If things are weak or just coming out, even more so, However my little micro climate is one of a garden adjunct to a northern Midwestern windswept prairie so misting can kind of be ineffective because I can rarely maintain a 6 a day minimum mist regime that would be required to actually keep plants consistently moist. Lenz say it is a waste of time if your intent is nursing weak things, if you can't keep it up, that is. He only mists weak stuff--but then he is in moist cool New England.

Any misting I do in the morning is dried off quite quickly. On a light regime, just for overall plant health, a misting in the early afternoon seems best and evens my watering needs. Seems to me overall climate and water quality(bad minerally water is not a good thing to spray on trees) determine whether misting is a good thing, that and intent. Constant misting of healthy developed trees makes them luxuriant and actually makes my larches hairy, and according to Lenz, more disease prone.

 

[bonsairxmd]

Nice picture Brian! Your bonsai fostering/parenting skills are much better than mine as my 7 y/o son just begs me to plant my trees in the ground so they can get bigger for him to climb! My daughter (his twin) is a little more helpful.

 

[cmeg1]

I water trunk leaves and all when I water.

 

[iant]

Wow thanks for all the input! It seems my plants has been missing out. Also maybe I had a bit of a misconception about water on leaves. I'll give it a go.
Ian

 

[GrimLore]

Wow thanks for all the input! It seems my plants has been missing out. Also maybe I had a bit of a misconception about water on leaves. I'll give it a go.
Ian

When I actually am done with the garden at the new place I am putting in misters that I had from the old place. I used to have it set so the plants got drowned 2 times a day until the peak hot weeks(usually 2 here). For those two weeks I stopped fertilizer and used a drip system on them not disturbing the leaf by boiling water on it. Honest I could be over cautious but the plants did not mind.

Grimmy