Shea Simmons
When it comes to gardening and plant care, you might be tempted to think how often you water your plants is more important than when you do it. With some plants, though, that’s not the case.
There’s a specific time you should be watering your tomato plants, and you might want to set your alarm for it.
Tomato plants are best watered in the early mornings, and there are several legitimate reasons to wake up early and do so. Tomato blight is perhaps the most common reason. If you’re not familiar with this plant-killing menace, it’s caused by an organism and often kills plants starting in late summer, and it’s often caused by, you guessed it, excess moisture.
Tomato blight particularly affected raised beds, but if you grow your tomatoes in a greenhouse, they can also be affected. Unfortunately, once your plant has been exposed, the foliage quickly starts to rot, and the stems will collapse.
The organism thrives in warm, wet environments, and the spores can be spread by air or splashing water. When your tomato plant leaves remain covered in water and don’t dry out—which is what can happen if you water at night and don’t have enough sun to dry them—those spores can take hold.
When you do water, you’ll want to water as close to the ground as possible, and you’ll want to do so slowly, thoroughly soaking the soil. Then, as the day goes on, if any water is on the stems or leaves, the sun and hot air will dry them before night comes.
