Q. I have no idea if I am over watering or under watering.
My red tip photina plants are all brown and dropping leaves left and right. My
sago is turning yellow. I have a drip system and it is set for twice a day ever
other day for 10 minutes. Is that enough?
Photinia growing in rock mulch |
A. Usually drip irrigation is measured in gallons per hour,
not in the number of minutes it was operating. Each emitter operates in a
specific number of gallons, or fraction of a gallon or liters, it will deliver
in one hour.
Problem photinia |
With drip irrigation you should apply all of the water it
requires in one application. If your
drip irrigation is operating at the same time as your lawn is being watered
then this is a big no- no. This is frequently why drip is operating in that ten
to fifteen minute range. Lawns should be irrigated separately from trees and
shrubs.
In your case, If your drip system is applying 2 gallons per
hour through the emitters then the plant is getting 1/3 gallon each time you
water which is 2/3 gallon total every other day. The larger the plant, the more water should
be applied to it. For a one foot tall
plant try and give it about 1 gallon of water each time you irrigate. If your plant is 2 feet tall then try giving
it to a gallons of water each time you irrigate. If plants are 5 feet tall, give them about
five gallons of water at each irrigation.
This is a very rough estimate. My
sense is that you may be under irrigating.
Photinia after corrective action was taken |
If a Sago palm is planted in a very hot location with lots
of reflected light it can begin to yellow.
It can also begin to yellow if we have a very low winter
temperatures. You will see yellowing due
to very cold low temperatures very early in the spring or late winter. If it is yellowing because of a lack of iron
then the iron chelate mentioned above will correct it. If the yellowing is because of watering too
often then you may correct it by correcting your irrigation and not watering
twice each day but watering only once on the irrigation day but applying more
water.
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