How long does it take you to water your plants?

Okay, I think it takes ME too long to water plants and here I am seeing pictures of rows and rows and ROWS of gesneriads here from you guys. I realize some of you wick, but you've got to add water sometime. So I'm curious to see, if anyone feels like timing themselves, just how long it takes you to water ALL of your plants. lol

Well ,it takes me all day some days ...lol
That is one of the nicest thing about SW pots... they don't have to be watered everyday! Thank goodness...
It's hard to say exactly because when you have rows & rows they don't all use the same amount of water...so it's a continuum for me.
I wanted to ge tone of those watering wands to attach to the kitchen faucet to help out but the reviews I read on most were poor so I just water each by hand...

I don't know - watering time is like my decompression or meditation time. In the summer (indoors and out) probably half an hour a day. Of course my list of wants is getting bigger by the post....

When I'm watering my plants out on the pool deck and covered deck and inside my Florida Room, it takes awhile. About an hour for all the ones on the outside decks and maybe 15 minutes on the ones in the Florida Room. I use the hose for the plants on the decks and a pitcher for the ones inside the Fla Room. Then there's all the plants inside the house! About 30 - 40 minutes I guess for those. I wick most of the gessies, but most are in little small resevoir pots so they do dry out quickly! And, the inside house plants I guess I water about every two weeks. I also have some container plants outdoors that I water with the hose, but it only takes about 15 or 20 minutes for those! Everything else out in the yard gets watered by a sprinkler system that comes on twice a week!

Gee ... now that I read back over this and think about it, I spend a lot of time on plants! But, like allgr8dogs .... plant time is meditation time for me!

It takes forever. Literally, I'm never done. I just reach a stopping point, and sometimes don't get back to it for a few days. I think that's where my underwatering issues come in. It's like laundry...watering is never done, and by the time I've finished, they're needing it again! LOL That's why I'm looking into the Texas Style potting method and self-watering pots. :o)

haha- allgr8dogs- I TOTALLY know what you mean about that growing wants list. I keep trying to convince myself it's not a NEED...and it's really not working...lol

Okay, I had seen the posts on the Texas style potting method and the SW pots but didn't read enough to realize they were about helping to water less.

I actually put a few things in one of those plastic storage (under the bed) containers and just dumped water into the bottom to make it easier but it definitely lacks aesthetic appeal. It's not something I consider a long-term solution.

So hey...plantladylin...want to show some pictures of that "Florida room?" ; )

Ok cjolene: Here's a pic of my Florida Room from one end:

And .... from the opposite end:

From the covered deck looking towards the Florida Room:

Different View of the covered deck:

...... and a view of plants on one side of the pool enclosure:

How pretty Lin.............thanks

I am trying so hard to spend my money on the perma nest trays so every plant I owned is sitting on a grid with a string in it!!!!

This way I don't spend time watering but do spend a lot of time working on my plants......cleaning them up............potting up to the next size.......taking stolons off and rooting, etc............

This is the AV/Gessie forum so just to get back on track here's a few blooming:

Ok, I'm done ..... Somebody else's turn now! Let's see your pic's!

hee hee .... Gail, I STILL have not bought any of the perma nest trays .... not even one! I've been talking about it for a year now! It sure would make things a lot easier! I have so many other plants out on the decks that I can water with a hose. And, the ones inside the Florida room I just use a large pitcher ... it doesn't take long. But, with the Gessie's on the plant stands it sure would save me a lot of time if I would just order some of those perma nest trays!!!

Wow- your Florida room and pool area looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!!

It's funny how the variegation on av's just really stick out. You have such pretty blooms- but that was the first thing I saw- and she's not blooming!! What's her name on your av shelf?

The variegated one in the back is a Noid I got from Gessiegail! I just love it! Here's two more with the variegated leaves that I found at Wal-Mart on their clearance table a few months ago. The one on the left may be just like the one in the photo above, the one on the right has smaller leaves. They are both suckering and really need some surgery and repotting. I am so bad about butchering AV's though, they seem to wither and die when I try to do surgery! I am kinda getting away from the AV's ... have really taken a liking to the Chirita's and Episcia's. They seem a lot easier to me than the AV's ... don't know why.

Those are really pretty.

lol- When I started visiting this forum, I actually wasn't interested in av's much at all- I just liked episcias. Then I added florist gloxinia and now I'm also after av's and streps. Funny how things change, huh. ; ) Don't get me wrong- I still love the first two- but I think the ones I have now are enough.

Oh, we all say we have enough! But is enough ever enough??!!

I was gonna suggest a trade ... one of these Variegated AV Noids for a small Episcia!

Guess what Lin?? I have already gotten rid of all my variegated noids, but did start some new leaves from one.............

Oh Wow Gail ... I forgot you have been giving all your noids to the homebound.

I can send you leaves!

you are sweet Lin, but people are sending me so many leaves..........just too exciting......I started about 8 leaves anyway......thanks

lol Sounds like fun, Lin, but I'd need some time for growin'- I actually just cut off some stolens to root last week, but they are awfully small still. And it being practically July anyways, I think it's too hot right now to be shipping plants. Can you wait?

Sure can! I never even thought about shipping with the heat! And, it IS hot down here ... low to mid 90's every day for the past week and a half! I guess it's just as bad as shipping in the cold of winter!

I ship out and receive all the time and our temps are in the mid to high 90's...........they seem to be healthy plants both ways......

Using trays and plastic storage boxes (good for leaf pots and plantlets) so that I can bottom water dozens of plants at a time really makes watering faster. I just pour about 1/4 inch of water into the tray (about a quart for the 1020 nursery trays or larger perma-nest trays), and the pots soak up what they need. I don't worry about a little bit of water left in the tray, but I wouldn't leave the plants sitting in more than maybe 1/8 inch of water at the very most.... extra water can be tipped out or sucked up with a turkey baster.

Bottom watering in groups like this does make it easier for pests such as soil mealies to travel between pots, but when I'm doing a lot of propagating and have literally hundreds of plantlets filling up my big plant stand, it's simply the only way all the plants will get the water they need.

Propagating mini leaves and little suckers inside vented plastic salad containers reduces the need for watering these... I don't think I water the closed containers more than monthly, and I have a large tray that lets me bottom water 6 of the six inch square containers at once, so that goes fairly quickly also.

Now, if we're talking *all* the plants, I probably spend an hour each week (during the winter when many containers are inside) watering the indoor plants and african violets, plus whatever time it takes me to water flats of seedlings in late winter. If I'm turning plants, pruning, repotting, etc., of course that will take longer than just a quick watering to ensure their survival. In the summer, it takes me 20 minutes just to water all the containers on the deck and patio... so I'm sure glad that most of the garden beds have soaker hoses and are connected to an automatic system!

Hey critter! How's your Kee-wee cuttings doing? All the ones you gvae me are doing great, and growing... 'Blue Nile' is growing the fastest!

So nice to see you CritterO...

MsC

We've been down in NC this past week, visiting DH's folks... so I'll be spending some time watering this evening when we return, LOL.

Hopefully the Kee Wee cuttings are doing fine... I stuck them into moist potting mix and put them under the dome of a cake plate... they looked pretty perky when I left, and I think they'd struck a few roots. Thanks!

It's always a pleasure to see you posting here...glad you got to enjoy sometime with the folks... watering is probable my least favorite part of growing plants...I never seem to get it right..lol




MsC

Hmm...so many the under-the-bed storage containers WILL be a long-term solution. lol!! We think alike, crittero. ; )

Good to hear I'm not the only one who doesn't care for watering. I've thought before that once I'm stinkin' rich, *cough* *cough* (yeah right! lol), I'll be able to get someone to do that for me. But then on the other hand, I'd be afraid they wouldn't do it right and I'd want to do it myself. Just can't win. Not even when I'm imagining. lol

Good to know can still receive plants in 90+ weather. I guess it makes sense...since it gets hotter than that in their native area. I just wasn't thinking of that. lol

Hi there,

It takes me days!!!! I take them all to the kitchen sink and clean the drain dishes...one stand yesterday took me three and a half hours.

Usually two to three days.

Today I managed to do two stands and it took me from 6:30 this morning to about 2:30 this afternoon.

I have just finished alphabetizing all my violets so now I know where what is. This weekend I plan to alphabetize the leaf pots.

Joanne

I've been following this thread with interest, but had not answered directly because I looked at is as an ongoing job, that was never-ending. I may spend 20 minutes or so in the mornings before work, going around and checking different plants, and watering outside on the balcony in preparation for another hot day. It didn't occur to me until I read Joanne's post, that I do the same thing she does with most of my plants... that is, I take them individually to one of the sinks and give them a good soaking, pick off bad leaves, and clean up the pots. I probably do this to 3-4 pots each day.

So yeah, it's an ongoing thing that never ends! LOL!

Karen

ALPHABETIZE?!?!

lol

Some of my plants seem sensitive to the chlorine in the tap water. So rather than deal with those plants separately, I use empty water jugs (water company said our tap water had too much cleansers in it- we had to buy drinking water from Walmart for over a year...lol), fill them and let them sit overnight, and water them with that. But other plants are also sensitive to our hard water. So I water those (and gessies, just in case) with distilled water.

Good reminder... I need to turn on the water and the filter and make a 5 gallon bucket of water to use on the AVs tonight... I use the same filter that provides water for my fish tank, so it removes chlorine and various other stuff... I am not positive that it is better than tap water for my AVs, but I think I can see a difference, so I figure it's worth the extra step.