Lesson learend

[Arizona Fero]

I took photo 1 on May 10th of this year, and I and posted it under Agave Question. I did this because I changed my watering schedule from twice a week to two times a month, on the advice of a lot of people, I was told I was watering too much! But I soon noticed that my Agaves started looking very stressed out. I know the - when to water question- is one of the hardest to answer because there are to many variables in the question, were you live, what's is your soil is like, how much rain do you get, are the plants under a shade tree, are the plants in full sun and so on and so on- and I know all these things matter a lot. But the best advice I got was to just do what my gut tells me and you will learn from trial and error. Well I got my shark skin back to where it should be ( photo 2 ) even the little pup looks better, but I had to really water a lot of my agave's back too there old self. So I am going to try a happy medium, I am going to water every 8 days or so during the summer. This might be to much for a lot of my cacti, mostly the echinocereus! but I can't stress out my agave's like that again. I guess I made a huge mistake putting so many plants in the same area that require a lot of different needs. Take Care Guys. Martin

[Harriet]

Glad to see the Agave looking so much better. Nice save!

[Arizona Fero]

Thank you Harriet, you and melt in the sun were right! It needed a lot of water. Martin

[tumamoc]

So far, so good. The worst is when you lose a plant and don't understand why it rotted away or lost it's roots.

[Arizona Fero]

Hey tumamoc, You and I both live here in Tucson, How often do water? approximately. Martin

[iann]

Twice a week is still too often. As you see, your plant is unharmed and drought tolerant. If it needs more water then give it more water, not more often. Maybe it needs time to develop deeper roots or maybe you shouldn't have planted it in pure pumice

[Arizona Fero]

I am not going to water twice a week, once every 8 days, for now. Martin

[tumamoc]

How often do water? approximately.

Martin, I think it really just depends on the type of soil and the temperament of the plant. For most plants, I have been watering about once a week since the first signs of growth (and heat) in the Spring. However, the vast majority of my plants (which are cacti) are in pots because of limited space in my yard. Also, last year I switched most of my plants from a loam-based mineral soil mix to a potting blend that consists of half pumice-half compost (from ACME Sand & Gravel--the same stuff they use at B&B, but without k-mag), and I believe this dries at a different rate than native soil (assuming that's what you use). Most of my plants have really appreciated the added nutrients. I've also found that the smaller the pot, the more frequently I need to water. My plants grown in native loam, which is much more compact, get watered less, maybe once every two or three weeks--especially those in large pots or in the ground. I'll water everything less frequently (or not at all) when the rains come.

[GermanStar]

Two small points. First -- never, ever change up on a watering schedule when the heat is here, unless you intend to water more and/or more frequently. Second, IMHO, it is nearly impossible to overwater here during the late spring/summer, and I see no issue with twice per week for Agaves, since soil is bone dry in a matter of hours after watering. One thing I do when it gets hot like this is water at night. Try watering at 6 AM, and you're bone dry by noon.

[GermanStar]

Twice a week is still too often. As you see, your plant is unharmed and drought tolerant. If it needs more water then give it more water, not more often. Maybe it needs time to develop deeper roots or maybe you shouldn't have planted it in pure pumice

Only to a point. Had Martin not corrected the hydration issue, it may have looked like this in about 3-4 weeks:

[Arizona Fero]

Thanks guys that makes me feel a lot better. I may have jumped the gun on this watering thing because I had two echinocereus get root rot in March and got freak out a little, I thought oh crap I must be watering to much! Both of these Cacti where under trees, which I have now relocated to hot spots, and they are both looking a lot better. I have done the same water schedule for about 5 years now, twice a week in the summer, ( May to September) unless it rains, and then I stop watering from Halloween to March. GS I always water at night, You, and Mark from BB, John Weeks and a couple of other knowledgeable guys from this site told me this about 2 years ago, and I have done it ever since, thanks for that. Tumamoc thanks for you information as well, every thing you guys tell me helps a lot. GS is absolutely dead on about our soil! it drys quick, I have watered a ton on some nights, and then bought a new plant 2 day's later, started to dig a hole and there is no sigh of any moisture what's so ever, bone dry, crazy. Thank you guys. Martin

[Harriet]

Just a quick comment about climate differences. Here in Florida we run a risk of problems with plants staying TOO wet for too long if we water in the evening or at night before 3 or 4 AM. With our humidity the plants just never dry out and suffer from all sorts of water-related problems. Then, if we water in the middle of the day, half the water being pumped out evaporates or blows away before it gets where we want it to get.

Thanks goodness for timers on irrigation systems!