Re: watering hosta gardens with irrigation system?

Hi Cindy,
       The only reason to worry about plants being too shallow-rooted is if
the soil dries out on the surface and they can't get water because the roots
don't go down to where the soil is still wet. This would result from letting
the soil dry deeply then just adding a little water at a time so the lower
soil is dry and the upper two inches or so gets water. The roots stay up
high because the soil below is dry and useless to the plant.
       As long as there is adequate moisture and the soil is easy to
penetrate the roots will go deep. Using a timer-controlled watering system
will probably keep the soil from drying out very deeply anyway, since the
water is applied regularly, as long as it is enough, since the soil is
drying from the surface down. How much would depend on soil structure (sand
or clay), how much drying sunlight, and how much it rains.
                  .........Bill Meyer



> Hi folks,
>
> My neighbor (with large shade gardens full of hostas) just had an
irrigation
> system put in.  The installers told her to water for 20 minutes every
other
> day.  She's very concerned that that kind of watering will only make her
many
> hostas and trees shallow rooted.
>
> Do any of you hosta gardeners use irrigation systems?  If so, how do you
set
> the automatic timers?
>
> Thanks!
> Cindy Johnson
> White Bear Lake, MN
>
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