Watering
Evening Watering Is Not Always the Safer Choice
Watering at dusk saves water but can cost you the plant: wet leaves overnight are the single biggest invitation to fungal disease.

The advice to water in the evening comes from a real observation — midday watering loses a meaningful share of the water to evaporation before it reaches the root zone. But evaporation is only half the equation. Fungal spores that land on a leaf need a film of liquid water and a few hours of moderate temperature to germinate. An evening soak gives them both, uninterrupted, until sunrise.
Early morning watering wins on both counts: air and soil are still cool so evaporation is low, and the rising sun dries the foliage within an hour or two. If evening is the only time you have, water at the soil line and keep it off the leaves entirely — a watering can with the rose removed, or drip line, does this better than any sprinkler.
Put this into practice
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