From: T@invalid.invalid   
      
   On 8/13/21 10:22 AM, bill wrote:   
   > When we water the tomato plants does it matter if we water the leaves?   
   > Do the tomato plants "feel" the water when it's "on" the leaf?   
   > Can they absorb the water from the leaf?   
   > Or only from the ground (roots)?   
   >   
      
   Hi Bill,   
      
   I have seen organic farmers drench away, but   
   they were in fancy temperature and light   
   controlled greenhouses.   
      
   Tomatoes originally came from the Amazon (then   
   cultivated all over the Andies), so they are   
   use to getting drenched by rainfall on a daily   
   basis, but the Amazon has great drainage so they   
   did not stay wet for long periods.   
      
   A farmer told me to think of plants as straws.  They   
   suck water up from the soil and expel it OUT the   
   bottom of their leaves (they have little vent holes),   
   so no they do not absorb water into their leaves.   
   It is the other way around.   
      
   Me personally, I would not drench the plant.  I   
   spray at their dirt.   I do not want then poached   
   (steamed to death) in the sunlight or molding in   
   the dark.   
      
   I have a rule of thumb, if the leaves seem a bit   
   wilted during the late afternoon, they get more   
   water next time.  Wilting is the plant's way of   
   protecting itself when it gets dehydrated.   
      
   And it is the plants way of communicating with you:   
   "Slave!  Slave!  More Water!  He keep this up   
   and we are all moving to Songbird's garden.  He   
   has worms!  Slave!  Slave!"   
      
   Disclaimer.  I have a "black thumb".  Anything I say   
   is instantly trumped by the experts on this group,   
   especially Songbird.   
      
   HTH,   
   -T   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)