Scorched leaves.

[dogfish]

I have been told not to water my plants during strong sunlight as the leaves will get get scorched...is this true and why?

[crete]

yes true why?who knows

[$~Jeep~$]

Hi dogfish

Any droplets of water on the leaves can act like a magnifying glass and scorch the leaves. If you have to water in full sun, aim the spout/hose under the plant so it goes directly to the soil.

[WendyS]

I think the sun's rays seem to act as a magnifying glass on the drops of water and heat them up until they burn the leaves. If you have to water plants in really hot water it's best to direct the water immediately around the roots. I think some leaves are more vulnerable than others if they are particularly tender or thin. I sprayed an aubergine plant which has very thin leaves in the midday sunshine a few days ago and some of the leaves are now looking quite damaged. On the other hand, I treated my peppers and chilli plants which were also standing in bright sunlight in exactly the same way and they are still looking perfectly OK.

[Thunderbird+]

I fully agree with the above answers, I personally prefer to get the watering done in the early morning about 6:30am, before the sun gets to strong, I have a theory that doing it in the evening only encourages slugs to come out and have a feast.
This year I've noticed more leaf scorching than ever before, whether plants had water on the leaves or not, which is very worrying and makes me wonder about the ozone layer, or the lack of it and the effects of global warming!

[$~Jeep~$]

Further to TBird's comment about the ozone layer, I've always wondered what you're supposed to do when, like Saturday, we had a terrific electrical storm, hailstones, terrential amount of rain for 1/2 hour, followed by lovely sunshine - what about our lovely plants then - I didn't fancy going out and wiping all the leaves!!

[dogfish]

Thanks all.

[donk08]

This is simply untrue. Scorching occurs as a result of not enough water in the plant's internal system via the roots/soil. A well watered and fertilized plant (or one that requires less water and nutrients from the soil) won't scorch even if it gets water on its leaves and is exposed to strong sunlight.

Take this as an extreme example: After a rainstorm and the sun comes out, you don't see plants with scorched foliage everywhere.