Now some you may cringe at this! But just about this time of year, I find it beneficial to water at night. It is 80 plus temps at night , and the low humidity, permit me to do this.I live in the Desert, the air is very dry. I suggest this for zones 8 / 9 / 10 /11 etc.....
I dont do this at any other time of year. I will continue until @ Sept. I have no fungal deseases at all.
Watering at night!
Michele,
You don't have to apologize. In deserts night dews, uncommon as they might be, are significant sources of moisture for lots of creatures. I sometimes wonder about the advice of not watering at night. What do plants do when it rains at night? In the upper midwest and New England, evening thundershowers were common in all but the colder months.
I wondered the exact thing Marshseed. I guess if the conditions were not as they are here, humidity being so low as it is. Then it definitely would encourage fungal desease. We may not see any rain for months, maybe Dec! Sometimes I actually spray the plants on purpose , when I get a bareroot plant I pile up bark mulch(large) around the stems and I spray the bark as many times as I can during the day. 10 times sometimes. It has made all the difference in my bareroot transplant success. Jand P actually gave me that suggestion for my roses. They have been very helpful, with their advice.But I plant bareroot in Feb , here. I wouldnt do it this time of year. Too darn hot!And dry.
If i get the JP roses in those boxes (a measly root systems), I plant them to the graft and then bury the whole thing in mulch to protect against drying. Buds break and new shoot will push through the mulch. When the plant is well established, I remove the mulch and maybe replace with straw to keep the soil cool.
Stay cool and moist!
Marsh
And get some sleep.