Greenhouse Watering Tips for Healthier Plants

At a Glance

Healthy greenhouse plants rely on precise watering, as enclosed environments make overwatering and underwatering more likely. Key factors include plant type, soil, temperature, and season. Drip irrigation and smart watering systems help deliver consistent moisture while reducing waste. Monitoring soil and humidity, watering deeply in the morning, and combining irrigation with fertilisation all support stronger roots, better growth, and higher yields.

Why Greenhouses Need the Right Watering Strategy

Enthusiastic gardeners who are passionate about growing their own organic produce often consider a greenhouse a practical investment. This is because with changing climate patterns, extreme weather conditions and unreliable planting cycles are becoming more common. With a greenhouse, you’re able to grow your choice of fruits and vegetables or beautify your gardens all year through without worrying too much about external conditions.

They’re also relatively easy to maintain and are suitable for gardeners of all skill levels, whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just a beginner. With an extended growing season, you’re able to enjoy a good garden yield no matter the time of the year.

However, because greenhouses are all about creating a healthy indoor environment for your plants, it's important to get soil compositions, temperatures and airflow just right. Most importantly, you need to give careful consideration to the watering systems you use for your greenhouse. This is because the wrong watering strategy can easily cause root rot, premature wilting, yellowing and fungal diseases, compromising the quality of your garden yield.

In this article, we discuss effective greenhouse watering tips for healthier plants. 

Understanding Your Greenhouse’s Watering Needs

Since greenhouses are enclosed spaces that are different from outdoor environments, you need to be precise with how you manage conditions indoors. This is especially the case when it comes to understanding your greenhouse’s watering needs. 

Getting your watering frequency right is essential for all growing environments, be it an allotment or a small garden. However, it becomes doubly important in an artificially regulated environment like a greenhouse. Here are some of the things you need to consider that can help you learn the best ways to water your greenhouse plants.

Factors That Affect How Often You Should Water

If you think weather conditions play a huge role in determining your greenhouses’ watering schedules, you’re on the right track. This is because, even though it's an enclosed space, your greenhouse is not immune to temperature fluctuations outside. On hot sunny days, your plants may need extra nourishment and frequent watering as compared to cooler days.

Expert greenhouse watering tips are always subjective, not just to weather conditions, but also to your plant and soil type. In fact, your watering strategy must also depend on the stage of plant growth and the size of your pots and plant containers. This prevents you from common watering mistakes such as overwatering or underwatering, ensuring your plants receive consistent watering in the right amounts.

Recognising Signs of Overwatering and Underwatering

Are you seeing your greenhouse plants showing signs of yellowing or have algae growth on the soil surface? You might be overwatering your plants. A way to determine this with absolute certainty is by checking if your plants are beginning to wilt despite having wet topsoil.

On the other hand, if you’re underwatering, you’ll notice that your plants look dull and lifeless, along with a crisp, brown edge. Leaves and stems may droop from dehydration, and the potting mixture will shrink from the sides of your container. 

The best way to water greenhouse plants is to set up a smart irrigation system like WaterMate from Harvst. These can help you save time, conserve water, and remotely control and monitor your watering system with minimal hassle. To make your purchase, visit our website.

Adjusting Watering Schedules for Seasonal Changes

The best greenhousing watering tips make room for seasonal adjustments, as they allow your plants to receive the right amount of moisture at the right time. This tailored adjustment to your plant’s watering schedules helps maximise your greenhouse yield, making for healthier, more resilient crops and produce.

Cooler days around winter may warrant less frequent watering as compared to the hot days during summer, when plants tend to need more water for nourishment. Transitional weather seasons, such as spring and autumn, may require you to fine-tune your watering times even more. You could consider watering when the topsoil is dry to the touch or every two to four days.

Best Practices for Efficient Greenhouse Watering

Looking for tried and tested greenhouse watering tips? We’ve got you covered. Our best practices will help you conserve resources and manual effort while ensuring your plants receive all the help they need to thrive all year round.

Choosing the Right Irrigation System

There was a time when manually watering your greenhouse plants was the only available option. Today, smart irrigation systems ensure consistent watering in an efficient manner, all using an automated system. This removes the stress of figuring out the right watering routines and frees up precious time, which you can use to enjoy your garden.

Using Drip Irrigation vs. Overhead Sprinklers

The best way to water greenhouse plants is through drip irrigation. It works well while delivering water more precisely and minimising wastage. It also reduces the likelihood of foliar diseases affecting your plants and is well-suited to crops like tomatoes, chillies and peppers.

Overhead sprinklers tend to raise the humidity levels in a greenhouse environment, so they’re great if you live in an area with hot weather conditions where you require cooling. This is especially a good option if you’re in the process of developing propagation trays or planting young seedlings.

Monitoring Humidity Levels

Today, modern watering systems for greenhouses come with a host of features like temperature sensors. These can help you monitor humidity levels remotely and make adjustments to your watering schedule based on real-time temperatures. You could also use a simple hygrometer for a humidity check.

If you’d like to keep things simple, you could simply get more tactile and hold your plant container. If your pot is light, your plant could do with a water refill; if it’s heavier, leave it till the top soil is dry before you water it next. You could also try sticking your finger an inch deep into the soil to check moisture levels. 

Enhancing Plant Health Through Smart Watering Techniques

If you’re looking to maximise nutrient delivery to your greenhouse plants to ensure a better garden yield, consider trying these effective greenhouse watering tips. 

Timing Your Watering for Maximum Absorption

One of the best ways to ensure maximum water absorption is to be strategic with your watering times. Experts recommend watering deeply but less frequently to allow stronger roots to develop while not suffocating them with overwatering.

Seasoned gardeners believe that the most optimal time for watering plants is usually in the early morning hours. This allows water to go down to the roots without the risk of rapid evaporation. Any residual moisture on plant leaves will also dry out in the heat, minimising the risk of fungal diseases.

Combining Watering with Fertilisation

Have you wondered if there was an effective way to deliver nutrients to your plants other than manually adding fertiliser to your plant pots or soil beds? This greenhouse watering tip is just for you. It’s called fertigation and combines irrigation and liquid feed to deliver nutrients directly to the plant root.

It allows for precise delivery, minimises wastage, and reduces plant stress, all while being cost-effective. This ensures that your greenhouse plants receive a consistent supply of nutrients, increasing your greenhouse yield and improving crop quality.

Purchase A Smart Irrigation System from Harvst Today

Now that you’ve learnt the best greenhouse watering tips, why not consider investing in a smart watering system for your greenhouse? 

Harvest’s WaterMate is a smart, easy-to-use irrigation system designed to fit seamlessly into your garden, greenhouse, or polytunnel. WaterMate comes in Mini and Pro models to suit different growing areas. Each setup helps you water more efficiently and keeps your plants healthy without the need for constant supervision.

At Harvst, we design our products to make growing feel rewarding and balanced. We believe that caring for your plants should bring peace and satisfaction, while our tools handle the hard work in the background.

Place your order now and leave your irrigation worries to Harvst!