night watering cacti

[DiscoStu]

i'm certain this has come up before but i couldn't find a thread,

so considering cacti transpiration occurs at night would it be better to water at night/early evening in order to allow them adequate water take up?

[Evil Genius]

I would only water when it´s hot. Not during the night. I dont think it would hurt if you do it a few times but on a regular basis, this might induce root rot because the roots stay moist for longer.

[Halcyon Daze]

I'd have thought that transpiration happens day and night.

I'd also tend to think that watering during the night could be better than during the day (in summer) as hot wet conditions could encourage problems. It usually rains either at night or during overcast conditions (obviously) so maybe watering during a heat wave could be a bit risky.

I could be wrong on both of these points though.

[prier]

I used to do this regularly in the warm weather, it was more a habit of forgetfulness rather than something I planned. I think it is fine, as long as your not watering in the heat of the day, or when your plants are in direct sun, anytime is alright. I'm not sure which is optimum, as cacti are doing a lot of stuff at night i'm curious if it's better at dawn/dusk or at night. hmmm.. . I'm going to do some research and experimenting...

[Dreamwalker.]

maybe consider the origin of the actual plant and search the weather patten for that environment...................hummmm desert rain....................always assumed its a daytime thing...................but then there are the mist reapers.............which would be the cool of the night and early morning...................

[Bert&Ernie]

I'd have thought that transpiration happens day and night.

From Wiki: Like other succulent plants, most cacti employ a special mechanism called "crassulacean acid metabolism" (CAM) as part of photosynthesis. Transpiration, during which carbon dioxide enters the plant and water escapes, does not take place during the day at the same time as photosynthesis, but instead occurs at night. The plant stores the carbon dioxide it takes in as malic acid, retaining it until daylight returns, and only then using it in photosynthesis. Because transpiration takes place during the cooler, more humid night hours, water loss is significantly reduced.

dunno if watering at night will really effect that much though...

[GoOnThen]

I have always watered at night mainly because i am never home during the day and also water restrictions say i am not allowed to run my reticulation during the day and only twice a week. So everything in the garden gets watered at 7.30pm two days a week and then another two days a week they hypothetically could get watered at 3.15 am.

The greenhouse and stuff under lights are always watered at night any were between 8pm and 1am

Cheers

Got

[hostilis]

I've heard that watering in the heat/sun of the day is bad because you could get water droplets on the plants and aid sunburn. But this is easily avoided if you just don't put water directly on your plants or bottom water.

[zelly]

Just like mother nature, i keep my potted plants guessing when they might next get a drink of water. toughens 'em up imo.

[Quixote]

Transpiration* is not about watering, since it's something that takes place above ground, in the green part of the cactus, if I'm not mistaken.

*Edit: I was thinking about Crassulean Acid Metabolism

Edited January 18, 2014 by Quixote

[franky]

Transpiration is whatlets the plant uptake water through its roots!

hi all I am new to this forum I will do an intro soon ;D

[DiscoStu]

thanks for thoughts. i was thinking more about during exceptionally hot weather as SE.OZ is experiencing now where evaporation rates are high. i thought they might struggle a bit to get adequate water if watered at morning/during the day seeing as the soil dries right out especially in the smaller pots.

also i find watering evening/night reduces "hydrophobia"(?) of the soil and it's still moist the following morning.

Edited January 16, 2014 by bot6

[Quixote]

Transpiration is whatlets the plant uptake water through its roots!

As I understand it, there are two ways a plant pulls in water from the roots, one is transpiration (water evaporating in the leaves creates a pressure difference that pulls water up from the roots) and also a chemical way, that uses salts and osmosis to force water into the roots.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I am under the impression that cacti don't do a lot of water pumping by transpiration, as they do everything to prevent evaporation of water from the part above ground, even at night with the stomata open. Instead, they mainly use the chemical pumping action.

So, if I'm not mistaken, time of day for watering makes little difference...

[franky]

Too be honest, I'm not that up on cacti biology, so I cannot really answer. I was under the assumption that, only mineral nutes are forced or 'jump' into the roots through a chemical reaction. But you may be very write dude, for me the biggest factor to consider is how quickly the medium will dry out, some of my established cacti's mixes will dry out in a few hours, so if i watered them in the morning there would be no moisture left in the medium come night time. I hope this somewhat makes sense, I've never been great sharing my information or plain socialising at that so sorry if i come off hard to understand.

[Quixote]

I'm no expert either, just throwing in my two cents..

If your location is so hot that the cacti dry out completely after a few hours, then I think it's good to water them in the day, since if you don't, the cacti might go dormant because the temperature is too high and their roots too dry. At least I read somewhere that cacti can go dormant both if the weather is too cold and if it is too hot.

But hey, if you have several cacti in pots there, why not do an experiment? Water one of them only in the morning, another one only in the evening. See how they do. That would give some hands-on experience