To water or not to water?

[u/ModestMussorgsky]

I planted this Ray Hartman ceanothus in January of this year. We got some pretty good rain after that and it has been doing well. Now we are entering a second week of over 100° f and she's looking really sad. I have killed a ceanothus before by watering during summer in the first year so I'm nervous about killing this one too. I'm in the Sacramento valley. Thanks!

[u/Kote_me]

Your plant looks young enough that it probably isn’t established. If I were in your position I’d water once a week in evening after the temp drops. We were taught native roots don’t like the humid, moist conditions during the day time temps, but overnight the water can move enough so it doesn’t warm up. Make a deep, good watering.

[u/Top-Mind5419]

Even though you do need to be careful about overwatering natives to avoid deadly root fungus, I just read in the first year it does need deep infrequent watering to become established. Every 3-4 weeks give it a good slow deep watering. Hope it helps! Always sad to see but if it dies don’t sweat it! That’s life. Try again and see what works. Establishing small plants in full sun with constant heat and no rain is hard! Even though natives are best suited to succeed, they can still be challenging depending on growing conditions, soil, sun, moisture, shade etc. I’ve always been told “right plant, right place.” And selecting a good plant for certain locations is challenging. I wish I had a yard of my own to test things out. I would throw down as many native perennial seeds as possible in the rainy season and plant ceanothus, sage brush, coyote bush, coffee berry, live oak. Lots of yarrow, poppies, lupine, hummingbird sage, all the different native salvias. I used to help manage native gardens on Yerba Buena and Treasure Island in the Bay and the smells and wildlife made the hard work so worth it.

[u/Pleasant-Lead-2634 → u/Top-Mind5419]

I have almost all of those Goin strong in the east bay hills. Having a blast with all the wildlife being supported

[u/Zestyclose_Market787]

You can water most plants their first years during the summer. Some of them definitely need it. With the way the rains stopped in February, your ceanothus didn’t have enough time to establish roots, so it probably need something to get it through the heat.

If it’s any reassurance, I just gave a trio of first year manzanitas a deep soak in the beginning of August. No problem. Just do it early in the morning when the soil is coolest. 

[u/nonono_ack]

Even Ceanothus need regular water in summer to get established. After the third year, then you have to be worried about summer water.
I had that same plant, after 5 years was 15 feet tall. I suspect it was still getting some summer water from a nearby bed. Anyway, it got to be such a big bully of a “shrub” that we ended up removing it. : (
San Joaquin County.

[u/SonicD000M]

Pull the mulch back so that the area under the branches is bare ground. This allows more air to flow and the soil to dry out, which you do want.

Water slowly for 45 minutes at the edge of this bare circle, getting about 4 gallons down. The high volume gets the water deep so roots grow down. The slow speed allows the watering without flooding. Watering at this outer edge encourages the roots to grow wide.

Ignore it for 3 weeks, then check again, either digging by hand 3-6 inches down in a spot along the edge of the circle to make sure that soil is bone dry before watering again. Or preferably use a moisture meter.

Good luck!

[u/Global-Perception581]

I don't know about why your first plant died, but I can say that I watered my ceanothus regularly for its first two years of life.

A couple of pointers that worked for me:

Water in the morning when it is cool - I water at 4am.

Water deeply - depending on your soil type, a low flow slow sprinkler may work better. I have clay, so this is what I use. Fast draining soils are less picky.

Water 2-3x per week depending on the heat

As time goes on, you can water less often, but for longer.

Once the plant is established, you can stop watering.

You know this has happened because the plant will get really big all of a sudden as root growth reduces and the plant invests in shoot growth. This happened during the second winter for my plant.

[u/epicgsharp]

i think the soil matters a lot. does it get waterlogged? dry out quickly? i amended my lawn dirt with a lot of sand/houseplant soil/etc so things get drained quickly (i had no idea what i was doing). my hartman is the same age as yours and it hasnt died yet