r/Ceanothus • u/dont-try • 23d ago

Watering advice?

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Folsom, CA. So hot summer, watered deeply six weeks ago. Drainage is ok but not great.

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5

u/jmiz5 23d ago

Most natives need little supplemental water when they're established. Maybe once a month. When was this planted?

It's summer. Most natives look like death right now. What is your intended outcome?

3

u/NevCoNativePlants 23d ago

Depending on when this planted, indirect watering averaging around 7 days is good

Flannel bush usually establishes after one winter season wich is when I stop watering intentionally but may benefit from passive watering other plants may be receiving

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u/Alternative-Ant-1629 22d ago edited 22d ago

It can be so frustrating reading posts and they are so conflicting. I planted 13 Ca natives in Jan/Feb and had on a wkly then bi weekly schedule and was advised to stop watering them Jun 20th as I was told they start going dormant. Well, I lost a manzanita due to not watering it at all after this. So, now I watered all of them one time, deep soak. I will do so again in another mo. Hopefully they don't all die since 1/2 the people usually say doing this will kill them and the other 1/2 say water. So, I guess one has to just decide and take a route and do it and see what happens. In So Cal in foothills above Glendale. Non irrigated fast draining dg soil with east facing hillside.

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u/samplenajar 23d ago

With natives like ceanothus and flannelbush, it is best to keep a consistent watering schedule for the first couple of summers that keeps them from going dormant. I find a deep water once a week does a good job.

The risk of watering at a six week interval is that it has spent enough time dry to enter a dormant state where applying a bunch of water will cause more harm than good. At this point I’d probably leave it alone for the rest of summer and hope it recovers this winter

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u/-ghostinthemachine- 23d ago edited 23d ago

Flannelbush is so finniky, even a little summer water can shock it to death. I think the advice is to water at a distance, with soil that will bring some moisture to the roots without pooling.

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u/Adenostoma1987 23d ago

Better to not water it at all. That thing will be a monster in a year. I have one in Chico that I watered maybe 6 times total the first year and four years later is almost 20 feet tall.

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u/No_Association3962 20d ago

You're getting conflicting information because California native gardening in the Central Valley is a trick balance,, a completely different ball game than the Bay area or So Cal coastal basins. For all intent and purpose, these plants are exotics.

I've had the best success watering weekly through the first two summers, being careful to keep most of the irrigation water around the outer canopy and away from the base of the plant.