Overwatering stunting growth?

[QuantumSparky]

I just moved to a new town and brought all my trees with me. They get the same exact amount of sunlight each day, the only difference is I've become too busy to water them every day. Instead I now water them once every 2 days. With that one simple change, I've noticed that every single tree has exploded with growth and have become substantially more vigorous. Could it be that although I have most of my trees in a fast draining BonsaiJack mix, watering daily was too much? The only explanation I can come up with is that daily watering prevented the trees from needing to develop their root system in search of water, since water was abundant. Perhaps now that there is less available water in the soil over the course of 2 days, the trees have to grow their roots to offset the lack of water? And as a result of a healthier and larger root system, vigor has increased. What do you think of the situation?

 

[Firstflush]

Yes.
People in general over water. If you were…the pore space is consistently flooded not allowing for healthy roots >>>>>healthy top growth.

Looks like you are in the sweet spot of watering now…watch the unforeseen extremely warm days, especially if you are riding that fine line of letting your soil dry out appropriately. With fall/winter coming on, you could likely back off watering even more. I like the knowledge you have come across.

 

[QuantumSparky]

Yes.
People in general over water. If you were…the pore space is consistently flooded not allowing for healthy roots >>>>>healthy top growth.

Looks like you are in the sweet spot of watering now…watch the unforeseen extremely warm days, especially if you are riding that fine line of letting your soil dry out appropriately. With fall/winter coming on, you could likely back off watering even more. I like the knowledge you have come across.

Thanks! As I have just gotten into this hobby in the past few months, I have never actually seen what healthy growth speed looks like. I knew that growing trees in containers is not a sprint, but that made it incredibly difficult to understand how slowly my trees were growing. Now that I have a better watering schedule and have witnessed the difference between "surviving" and "thriving" then I should be able to more accurately notice when a tree's growth has slowed down, and take the proper care steps

 

[Firstflush]

Do you have pics of the new growth?
Getting dialed feels good!

 

[QuantumSparky]

Old and neglected rose that I'm trying to ground layer, the shoot put out about 300% new growth. (that vigorous shoot isn't terminal either, the rest of the main branch is buried)

Bunch of new foliage on my azaleas:

 

[QuantumSparky]

My shohin boxwood is putting on new leaves too:

Yamadori Maple has recovered very well after wiring:

Mystery plant is sending out aerial roots Has grown 200% in the past week compared to the last month

 

[Firstflush]

Second push in fall for sure. Good stuff.

 

[Paradox]

Yea I think this is just the late summer/early fall growth push we typically see. Nothing really due to watering.

Once the hot summer temperatures abate and we start getting cooler days and even cooler nights when evaporation is less the soil drys out slower so watering every day isn't necessary. I am not so much worried about overwatering because that is very hard to do with the open, inorganic soil I use. It's simply that the trees don't need the water every day at that time of year so why not be a bit conservative?

I typically change my watering schedule on my conifers to every other day in the early fall when I see they don't need it every day. The deciduous get changed a little later.

It all comes down to learning your trees, watching what is happening, paying attention the weather conditions in your area and adjusting accordingly.