Watering

[Darla]

I live in Riverside, ca.  Summers are hot, frequently 3 digits.   it has started to cool down, some nights in the 40s and the palms are going dormit then it heats up during the day in the 90s but is still cool at night....do I water...knowing it will be cool at night and the warmer weather will only last about 4 days.

[Neil C]

Are we talking potted palms or in ground palms?

Regards Neil

[Brett in Mission Viejo]

Keeping soil moisture in the right zone for all plants, can be tricky. In my experience, for most palms, I find the So Cal growing season generally extends into late November or very early December, when the radiational cooling night temps and sun angle are low where the soil temp drops significantly.  If you use a sprinkler system, hand water, or drip, watering intervals should be extended, accordingly, sometimes significally in wet/cold spells. Also, to prevent fungfus, I recommend watering in the morning and not in the evening, especially with surface sprinklers. With significant rain events (which we have not had this year), you can go very long in between watering, even turning off all watering for months until sometimes into March with multiple significant rain events.  That is my observation with palms in a clay loam soil. Extremely well draining soils may be a different story. You can also go around your yard and do the finger test or dig a small hole to determine how dry the soil is, or buy an electronic system that measures soil moisture to help. However, with single digit humidity santa ana wind events we get, even if the soil is somewhat moist, I have a tendency to lightly mist certain tender palms, e.g. Chameadorea, to give them a little drink to prevent leaf dessication. Hope this helps.

[Tracy]

Welcome aboard Darla, this looks like your first post!  Brett has it on the money in his comments above.  Our Santa Ana's create some uniquely dry conditions relative to our baseline between those events this time of year.  Brett's recommendations on checking the soil are really the only way to know if your watering interval is sufficient until we get some rain.  I stay much moister in my coastal climate between Autumn Santa Ana's, and have a very fast draining sandy soil, but I even notice differences in my garden between areas shaded and those exposed to more sun.  My autumn winter shaded areas can often skip watering compared to the sunnier spots. 

The only item not addressed thus far is which palms you are growing and their specific water needs.  Some of the palms which can handle cooler inland winter temps also may hold up in drier climates (Phoenix species for example).  So look at the needs of the palms you are growing; if some need more water than others during summer, they will also still need more consistent soil moisture during this time of year. 

[Hammer]

Good advice. 

Darla, if possible you gotta do a PRA at Brett's place.  His garden is spectacular. 

[JubaeaMan138]

Hello darla ! 

Were are you in riverside ? I am also in riverside . I have most of my stuff on drip system and am able to shut off during colder temperatures and i am going to water by hand once it gets colder I did have everything shut off until yesterday with our temps getting back into the mid 90s things can go south pretty quick especially if they are temperamental species . A lot of this depends on what species you are growing .