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Old timer at the garden center told me to stop watering my tomatoes every day
He said I was drowning the roots and they'd never set fruit deep. I ignored him for two weeks and got nothing but yellow leaves. Switched to twice a week deep soaks and now I've got green tomatoes coming in. Has anyone else had a random stranger save their whole crop?
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jordan_webb24d ago
And the funny thing is, that old timer probably had to learn that lesson the hard way too. I think people get this idea that plants need constant tiny sips of water like a houseplant, but outdoor tomatoes in the ground are a totally different beast. Once I started watering deep and less often, I noticed my soil actually stayed damp longer between waterings. The leaves perked up and stopped looking all sad and droopy. Plus, I read somewhere that shallow watering makes roots lazy and they just hang out near the surface where they get cooked in the heat. So yeah, that stranger probably saved your whole season and you didn't even know it yet.
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reese_nelson24d ago
Kinda applies to everything honestly. I see people do the same thing with lawn care, they water every day for ten minutes and wonder why their grass is shallow and dying. Or they feed their dogs tiny portions multiple times a day and then get surprised when the pup is always hungry. Deep and infrequent is just how a lot of nature works.
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