Root Depth

Knowing your plant's rooting habit will help you water more efficiently, and more importantly, improve the quality of your crop.

Deep rooting plants don't need to be watered every day. Their roots can access moisture further down than we can even access. However, if you water frequently, you will encourage plants which like to root deeply to instead develop shallow roots. Make sure you water only once or twice a week for deeply rooting plants. Personally, I wait for every third day to water, and I count to 20-25 (at 1gal/12 sec) for each plant.

Medium rooting plants need to be watered a little more frequently, perhaps every other day or even less. However, pepper plants like the soil to be completely dry before watering again! So remember, there are always exceptions. In the medium rooting category, watering mostly depends on the preference of the plant.

Shallow rooting plants almost always need to be watered every day, and the soil must be kept nicely moist, or else they will dry up.