Water can be a destructive natural element if used incorrectly. Gardeners starting their own seeds often lose a few because they water their newly emerged seedlings incorrectly.
Many gardeners use the pretty sprinkling cans sold in every gardening section of almost every Big-box store. The sprinkle head of the can appears to gently douse plants with fine streams of water. To a newly emerged seed, these seemingly fine streams of water resemble a July gully washer rain that drops two inches of rain in 30 minutes.
The smallest drop of water from one of these cans will leave a minor divot in the soil. If a seed is only an eighth or quarter inch deep, the droplet can burrow strait down and expose the roots.
Several safer methods of watering plants should be used until the seedlings have established a strong root system and stem. One method that many gardeners use is the emersion method – this waters the plants from the bottom up. For this method, the plants must be in a container that has drain holes. The container is simply placed into a larger container of water and the water is soaked up through the drain holds and into the soil. The gardener removes the container and the job is done.
I prefer giving my flats a spray mist sprits from a well cleaned recycled spray unit off a Windex bottle now attached to a smaller plastic bottle. It takes about 10 minutes a flat, but the spray is like a miniature rain more proportionate to the young seedling's size than the deluge of water from a sprinkling can.
Be careful, even the hand pumped sprayer if held too close to the soil will erode the soil. This method requires you to systematically spray the whole flat a section at a time then return after the surface is wet to add more water at least two more times over the entire flat so the water is absorbed well below the surface. If you only wet the soil's surface once, then not enough water will penetrate the soil and the roots won't form properly.
The misting method does something bottom watering does not – it strengthens the plant stems. One reason trays of transplants must be put out in a shaded area away from the protection of a greenhouse is to expose the plants to gentle breezes of the real world. The breezes tend to make the plant strengthen their stems. The gentle force of the mist I think tends to do this too.
There are other safe watering methods too. Container gardeners often use wicking to keep their container plants with a constant source of water from the bottom. I have not used this method but don't see how this wouldn't work too.
Soon gardeners will be thinking of starting some plants from seed, so now is the time to collect the supplies you'll need to safely water those young plants.
Many gardeners use the pretty sprinkling cans sold in every gardening section of almost every Big-box store. The sprinkle head of the can appears to gently douse plants with fine streams of water. To a newly emerged seed, these seemingly fine streams of water resemble a July gully washer rain that drops two inches of rain in 30 minutes.
The smallest drop of water from one of these cans will leave a minor divot in the soil. If a seed is only an eighth or quarter inch deep, the droplet can burrow strait down and expose the roots.
Several safer methods of watering plants should be used until the seedlings have established a strong root system and stem. One method that many gardeners use is the emersion method – this waters the plants from the bottom up. For this method, the plants must be in a container that has drain holes. The container is simply placed into a larger container of water and the water is soaked up through the drain holds and into the soil. The gardener removes the container and the job is done.
I prefer giving my flats a spray mist sprits from a well cleaned recycled spray unit off a Windex bottle now attached to a smaller plastic bottle. It takes about 10 minutes a flat, but the spray is like a miniature rain more proportionate to the young seedling's size than the deluge of water from a sprinkling can.
Be careful, even the hand pumped sprayer if held too close to the soil will erode the soil. This method requires you to systematically spray the whole flat a section at a time then return after the surface is wet to add more water at least two more times over the entire flat so the water is absorbed well below the surface. If you only wet the soil's surface once, then not enough water will penetrate the soil and the roots won't form properly.
The misting method does something bottom watering does not – it strengthens the plant stems. One reason trays of transplants must be put out in a shaded area away from the protection of a greenhouse is to expose the plants to gentle breezes of the real world. The breezes tend to make the plant strengthen their stems. The gentle force of the mist I think tends to do this too.
There are other safe watering methods too. Container gardeners often use wicking to keep their container plants with a constant source of water from the bottom. I have not used this method but don't see how this wouldn't work too.
Soon gardeners will be thinking of starting some plants from seed, so now is the time to collect the supplies you'll need to safely water those young plants.
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