nph

At least two of my bananas are fruiting, third one is about to start. They are planted around my pool which I think helps.

I live in Dallas and we are just starting summer with 100 pretty much every day. Normally I water them manually but with help from my customized sprinkler system which gives them roughly 1.5 gallon per plant when it runs.
We are only allowed to run it every 3 days and so far that has been enough.
Question is should I run it morning and evening those two days of the week so it gets 1.5 gallon early in the morning and then again in the evening so it can last 3 days before my next watering. Or is there a risk of over watering with that?

My thinking is that it can absorb most of the water from the morning so that the evening watering session is the one that will sustain it and keep the soil moist for the next two days without watering.

I am a bit concerned since I will traveling for two weeks without possibility of doing manual watering and since I have fruit for the first time I am concerned about how much water they require now that I have my first harvest!

Really appreciate if I could get some advice from those of you living with the same temperatures that have had fruit as well!

TommyMacLuckie

That's hot. Have you had fruit before? It seems, based on what I've read, that that is possibly too hot for fruit to mature correctly. Regardless, it sounds like that kind of heat, which in the sun is more like 120-140F, would make the plant require watering every morning for certain.

As far as a second watering during the day it might be best to do it after the sun's intensity has waned, say between 5 and 6 PM so there's not as much evaporation. Unless you are not watering the whole plant (just the root crown) then perhaps earlier would be better, say 3 PM. It won't hurt the plant by any means, not with that heat.

Kostas

When you water every 3 days,it important to deep water plants so that there will be water available for them at the lower soil levels for them to keep absorbing. I would say 1,5g is too little for deep watering. 3-4g would be more likely if delivered all at the same time over a longer period of time(half an hour to an hour) via drip irrigation and not sprinklers. I deep water my bananas in Pyrgos via drip irrigation every 3-4days in summer and they are very happy with it,never showing any lack of water and growing very fast. Of course,even though Pyrgos is hot,its also more humid and there is ground water between 60cm to 2m under the soil level so there is plenty of water available if a plant is deep rooted enough so my climate isnt very similar to yours.

__________________
''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''

harveyc

Personally, I'd probably be giving it 5 allons in the morning and 15 gallons that night. 15 gallons is 2 cubic feet and is enough to moisten about 6 cubic feet of soil which still isn't that big of a root zone.

__________________

sunfish

I give mine 2gal. twice a week

harveyc

Tony, if your temps were averaging over 100F like the OP, I suspect your plants would be struggling to survive with that watering regimen.

__________________

sunfish

So I would give them more water