For those who don't think water can burn leaves - Read this: Egri, A.; Horvath, A.; Kriska, G.; Horvath, G. Optics of sunlit water drops on leaves: conditions under which sunburn is possible. New Phytologist, 2010;

Also, that water in your hose just may SCALD your plants, IF it's been out in the sun all day, even if the sun isn't out when you water. Check the temp of that water and let it flow until it's cool enough!

I have listened to you guys who said to wait till morning to water my plants, and I watched my plants wilt. This year I tried watering when the plants need water, and many times that is during the day. The results: This has been my best year ever by far. I have not seen any of the issues you have pointed out.

Happy gardening this fourth of july everyone!

Can’t say I completely agree with this. There’s farmers in the southwest overhead watering crops at noon in the summer to cool them down. But I love discussing it!

This is my first garden in about 20 years after living in Colorado. I usually water I'm the am, but have found in the south that if I lightly water around 5pm it is usually enough time for the soil to dry. I forget some mornings before work as we have 2 kids.

I’m at work by 06:00. I’ve been watering in the evening for years and everything seems to be fine on my garden. I’m sure it might be better if I woke up an hour early at 03:30 or install a self watering drip system but I’m going to be honest with myself and I’m not going to do either. Watering the garden when we get off work is relaxing and a way to reduce stress. I’ll stick with the evening until I get a 8-5 job.

My issue is that I have to be at work at 6am, which means getting on the road by 5:30. So unless I wanna stand out in my garden at 4:30 in the morning, I water when I get home in the early evening, about 5pm. I use a wand, so I’m not getting the leaves wet. It’s the best I can do, and seems to be doing ok.

This is great advice, but let's face it. Most of the people out there are doing good if they water at all 😆

Plants are just like us. They love cool water on their leaves in the heat of the day. The water evaporates very quickly. I've never observed burns resulting from watering in the sun (in Florida no less). If you have to water in the middle of the day, water all parts thoroughly with cool water. Take the opportunity to cool down the whole plant. Finally, I do believe it's ideal to water in the morning. This curtails a lot of wilting and stress come mid day.

Watering in the evening works just fine, as long as you water at the base of the plants instead of spraying water all over the foliage like an insane person.

I disagree about not watering at night if on drip irrigation. My plants NEVER get wet as all my emitters direct water to the base of the plants. I feel watering in the evening allows for a more deep watering as it has a chance to soak in deep over night with less evaporation then watering in the morning. Now if you are hand watering and wetting down your plants in the process (which you should never be wetting down the entire plant except for maybe washing off insects or foliar feeding), watering in the morning might be best for you.

The best time to water is when it’s dry.

Its been 105° average in my area the last 2 weeks. Thanks so much for talking about this.

I’m a new gardener and live on Long Island.. it’s been very hot this week and when I get home from work around 2.. my tomato plants are totally wilting. I’ve been misting the plant leaves and watering below in their containers and the perk right up in an hour. There is a lot of conflicting advice out there. I just want to enjoy the fruits of my labor and praying I get to enjoy some tomatoes 🍅 🙏🙏

I live in the texas panhandle, when it gets over 95 outside i do give my plants a mid day drink. Now i have mulch down which protects the ground from heating up and i use a soaker right at the plant roots and never water on the plants. They seem do love it when i do that for them when we are in heat waves. Recently we arent in a heat wave, heck temps barely get to 80 right now which is odd for my area and we have also had a lot and i mean a lot of rain and i havent watered my garden in almost a week due to the amount of rain. But anyways thats what i do and my plants love the mid day drink when we are 95 or above.

Luke, THANK YOU so much for the YT50 seed sale the other day. I have already received my order and can't wait to get some of the flower seeds in the garden this weekend. As usual, the seeds and service at MI Gardener is excellent. Please let your staff know their hard work and dedication to our gardens is greatly appreciated. :)

What an education I get listening to you! So happy I found you today! 🙏🏻🦋🍃

I just wanted to say this is my 3rd year container gardening and your videos have been so helpful! I also purchased many seeds from you. Hopefully I can grow some from seed in the fall and next season. I was nervous to try this year and grabbed some seedlings this year. Thank you for all of the information you share for new gardeners like myself.

I have to disagree with both plant roots getting too warm when irrigated on hot days, and with water on the leaves causing sunburn. I work on a vegetable farm and we have been overhead irrigating on 90F and sunny days with no issues. Cool well water will objectively cool down the leaves and soil, and the water almost always will evaporate fast enough so that lensing on the leaf will not happen. Leaf scorching from water on the leaves is something I see people claiming all the time online because they're repeating advice they've heard, but I just don't see it in real life. Maybe you could try an experiment with your garden, Luke?

I guess this is recommended for best/optimal results. When I think about the fact that most of these vegetables grow in the wild without a regimented watering/irrigation system, but by relying on chance rainfall, it kind of makes me not worry about the specifics too much. Not saying to just totally neglect plant care, because obviously it also depends on your climate, but I start to not fret so much about not keeping a hard schedule.

Good video!! I try to water before 9 or 10 am but sometimes life happens. Water is actually NOT a good conductor of heat. That's why it takes so much energy and time to bring water to a boil.

I’ve seen tons of counter evidence personally and scientific journal papers vs the water during the day burns the plants thing. I don’t disagree that it’s better water off hours but it’s not for that reason and if you have cool season crops in a warm zone. Day misting / watering can keep you going

Concerning slugs / snails, Here is a trick that I use that has been working well: My garden consists of raised beds. First and foremost I have mulch throughout my garden area. My raised beds have mulch as well. The main purpose of doing this is that slug / snails hate rogh or sharp objects. However, even though I have mulch in my garden, I still crush eggshells to almost a fine powder but not too fine ( you want some sharp edges for those slugs/snails they hate so much) . I spread them around the lants that slugs / snails like, especially around pepper plants. I also have a trick to ward off moths, cucumber bettles, etc etc from all my plants. I use cayenne pappers extract and mix with water, usually 4 to 8 Oz per one gallon of water and spray my plants. I pay close attention to the bottom sides of the leaves where insects like to hide and spray those areas well. I know someone will ask "Does it urt the platns?" - No it will not harm your plants spraying them with "hot sauce for insects" I have been doing this for quite a few years. It is easy to make your own Cayenne pepper mix: Use around 6 peppers, throw them in a blender and fill blender up with water. Chop the peppers as fine as you can. Get a large jar / container (depending how much water your blender holds) and place a filter over the top of the jar / container. A good filter to use would be a coffee filter for example. The filter will keep back any fine particles that you will not want in your sprayer. When ready to use, mix anywhere from 4 Oz to 8 Oz of the cayenne pepper per one gallon of water. Shake your sprayer well and spray. NOTE: You can start out with a 4 Oz mix of the pepper to see if it will work and is strong enough. If an insect even tries to take a nibble, they leave it alone. Simply keep an eye on your plants and if you begin to see insects again, spray again. For me, it depends on rain amounts but I am usually good for one to two weeks before needing to spray again. My garden is fenced off due to rabbits and deers. However, there is another benefits to the cayenne pepper sprays. I spary the outside of my fence area and it wards of raccoons, skunks, rabbits and deers. They hate the smell of hot peppers

Thanks for the clarification! My husband and I were discussing this last week.

I'm really glad you included wet leaf burn from the sun. I remember getting yelled at for not cutting off the lawn sprinkler on the Japanese Maples when the sun began to hit them! The leaves looked so sad & scorched until I learned better 😉

Thank you for the advice! And thank you for taking the time to explain why! It makes so much sense!

Thanks for the great advice!!

Got my seeds yesterday!! So excited for planting through the garden in our next seasons 💕🍅🪴🍓

You are the best!!Great explanation of how and why. Thank you!

This is great to know. I sometimes water at night but now having second thoughts about that. Good pointers and advice. Thanks, Luke!

I just watered my garden and tomatoes at 9:30 pm, 🤦🏼‍♀️ wish I would have seen this sooner…oh well, now I know, thank you!!!

Great sharing dear friend!🙂 Have a nice day!👍523

Thank you Luke, I did learn from this video. I just installed an automatic drip system and now I know when to have it turn on

I take two buses to get to work so I do a lot of walking. I’m very tired when I get home. I take two buses back home so I take a nap during the evening and I’m Muslim so I pray 5 times a day so in this summer I have to wake up at 4:00am to pray. I take the bus to work at 7:00am. I’ll start watering at 5:30am half an hour after morning prayer. That way I have at least 1 hour to water the plants and eat breakfast and catch the bus 💜💜💜💜💜 Thx!

This was so informative! I've been watering my garden in the evening and my plants have really been struggling, so this was really helpful!

Great information Luke. Thank you!

I love your knowledge and truly appreciate you sharing it with us!!

Ohh very helpful information!!!

Excellent. Makes sense. Thank you

I received my seeds from your store today. Thank you so much, God bless.

that's so crazy that that water would heat up if the soil is hot. I would think if you water it enough (deep) it would cool the soil down. I learn so much!

This is the video that I needed!!!! Thanks

Thank you. I needed to hear this.

Last year I experimented with watering times and in my garden the plants loved being watered at 3am to 5am vs any other time. I tried watering at 9pm and had slugs everywhere. thanks for all your videos luke

Live and learn. Just watched this at 10pm, just after watering the garden.

I saw you were upset with people. I hope I didn't offend you sometimes I put a comment on here and I don't want to offend you. I am 78 yrs old and you remind me of my grandson. Love to watch you. Thanks for all you do.

Thank you for this. (The wife and I argue just about every year about best time to water.)

I use straw mulch in containers that retain moisture makes life easier so can water in morning and later afternoon in summer. I usually water later afternoon if plant are dry from morning watering since does not get dark until 9pm.

Thanks, great and needed advice.

Yes! Good reminder, Good point. 🤔

Thank you for giving a time line of when to water. I kept hearing and seeing "early morning" so I kept thinking if it was after 6am it was too late.

Another great video from the MIgardener 🌱💧

My parents in Nebraska always have to water their huge garden and they water all day long When it rains it rains at any time. Can’t say I agree with this

Well I’ve been doing it all wrong 🤦‍♀️😭, I have always watered in the evening… I will stop doing that and start watering in the morning. Thank you for the video

Hi Luke. I always water the soil of my garden before sunset, but do not soak the leaves of the plants. The water is cool rainwater. Never do I have a mold problem. I grow in a humid zone 7, but have lots of sun and hot conditions (usually) during the summer months.

This is a great and very helpful video. Learned something today and thank you. I usually and always water in the evening cuz thats the only time I have but after watching this video, I will try to start watering my plants in the morning. I have lots of slugs and snails so i hope this will help. Thanks Bro for sharing your knowledge. 👍

Thanks to Mother Nature I haven’t had to water my garden at all this summer 😊🌱🍅

Very good video. Thank you.

My brother had always been watering at night. He has been gardening much longer than I have and is usually more successful than I am. One evening I was at his house and he asked me to come talk to him while he watered. I had seen a similar video to this and told him about it. He grinned politely because he has always been better at practical things than I and always had more "common sense" than I have. But I could tell he couldn't dismiss our watering conversation. Later he called me and told me he had checked into when to water and that I was right. He waters in the mornings now.

That's great Luke but it's been raining for the past week here in Oklahoma so I haven't had to water it all

Common sense, but some people need to be *reminded* - repeatedly, in some cases! Thanks for the video! And Happy Fourth!!

I always water my potatoes at high noon. It's an easy way to boil them up. Have a nice bbq and let the kids dig up the cooked spuds.

I started watering my plants anywhere 10am-11sm or later in the afternoon, like 4:00pm and my plants survived and thrived. I dont water them when its super hott because like you said, one year I did that with my flower pots and the leaves burn to crisp, they died , or became spotted. I also attempted at watering my zucchini plants in the hot days and watered the leaves versus just the roots and the meldew was a huge issue right after, I stopped doing that too. I over watered my chili pots and the leaves began to curl so stop over watering too. Just look at your plants and get a feel if the leaves are asking for water...then water them, with love and care.

I've got my watering down despite my approach changing several times in 30+ years of gardening. But sometimes the judgement calls baffle me, particularly when it comes to rain in the forecast. For example, we're in a heatwave (Mass) and I know I need to water this morning BUT it's supposed to rain this afternoon. I mulch my garden and have soaker hoses so my plants are consistently moist. But sometimes before or after rainfall I'm not sure if I should water or not as I'm very cautious about over watering. Thanks Luke, great channel!

This was useful. Thanks.

Great info you are putting out. I think you were spot on with everything, watering in the morning solves many issue. You should touch on feeding I'm very specific. I only feed at night old legends. Also I'm only growing in pots, so I could see how feeding at night could be completely different for a garden.

Great advice!

Thanks for the info.....I’ve been doing this all wrong.

I use drip hose and a timer 15 minutes in the morning every day or so depending on area. I'm using a lot of mulch this year and what a difference.

Good info, really interesting. 😊👍🏾

Thank you for this.

Thank You Sir 👍

Yup, boiled my eggplants last year! And yes, so much rain here in Flint, Mi!

Hey Hun, great video! Heads up on those cute white butterflies, they are probably Cabbage moths! We have had 102°F - 118.2°F, in the Canadian Mountains! Craziness! I have been watering at night , but our nights have not been cool. I have also been watering in early mornings too. And we have a passive drought protection, in most of our gardens.

While I agree watering during the morning is best - watering at any time of day is better than no water at all. In the heatwave I am in at the moment and my poor soil (its a new garden) I’ve had to water 3-4x per day to prevent leaf loss or death due to drying out. Fortunately I live in a dry climate so no wet leaf issues (they dry in 15 min tops) and much to my surprise I haven’t had any leaf scorching due to the watering in full sun either.

As a container gardener I've found quart Gatorade bottles with a pinhole in the bottom water just fine after work. Forces deep roots and my plants don't mind damp feet at night. Most other problems are circumvented also. PS keep tomato leaves trimmed up the stem 10-12".

Thanks for all the informative videos. One thing you may want to correct is your comment about stomata. In most plants stomata are open during the DAY while photosynthesis is occurring and closed at NIGHT. There are exceptions to this in plants that are evolved in arid conditions (google CAM photosynthesis) but pretty much all the veggie plants we grow have stomata open during the day and closed at night.

Great video..grow BIG

I try to water between 5 and 6am, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Here lately in the texas panhandle, I haven't needed to water. I've only watered once in the past week. The cooler weather and rain has been nice

Loved this video.

Been doing it all wrong.. explains the plants. Thank You!

Great explanation - thx

Nice information Thanks s

Great video

Thanks 👍

It's so bright and hot here in texas and I have noticed sunburning on my younger plants so I definitely try to keep the water off the leaves. I should probably wake up early to beat the heat.

we use soaker hoses & water at night- well, early evening like 7pm cuz we have the time to do it then. works for us & garden is flourishing.

Masha Allah very nice video and very interested God bless you

Thanks!! 💖

Rain! What rain? We live in the South end of the San Joaquin Valley but your information is good to know. We have had repeated days of over 100 F and no rain to speak of since late April.

You're right, the best time to water your plants is in the morning. According to scientific articles published on “researchgate”, the time when plants absorb the most nutrients is in the morning (between 6 and 11 am.).

110 w/15-25% humidity. I water with a wand frequently.

Wow! What great info! I love how you give a detailed explanation of why to do things a certain way. I always wanna know the why before I'm convinced of anything 🤣 Btw 85 sounds refreshing. We're having highs over 100 pretty regularly lately here in North Dakota. AND hardly any rain, so I'm having to water our garden all the time 🙄

Hope your garden is okay. Mine just got destroyed from a big storm with hail. That hail lasted like 20 minutes! I'm across from Detroit in Canada.

I always thought that you could water in the late afternoon (after the heat ebbs) or early morning, but now I see morning is the clear winner!

Its hard for people that can't water early morning if they have jobs that early like city folk but for homesteaders it might work. I cant do it in the morning

Ha! You just found the culprit to the light gray spots showing up on my zucchini plant! It's me!!!! 😑🤣

Water droplets acting like a magnifying glass is a huge myth. Otherwise, plants would be heavily damaged every time it rains. My skin doesn't burn when I get out of a pool or the ocean or if I sweat a lot.

i wont have to water my garden for a while in Indiana..We had flooding rains and the ground is nice and soaked.If anything we need some sun!