"JayDee" wrote in message
...
So it seems that some plants like to get completely dry, then flooded
and not watered again until dry - but is there an easy way to
determine which will work best for a particular plant or family?

YES! With trees, the anatomy of specific species will give you some idead
on watering requirements. E.g., a ring porous trees such as oak, not Live,
would load large amounts of water in the early growth in girth or the spring
wood growth while in summer only loading an moderate amout of water and
elements. BTW, if vessel 1 is 2 times as big as vessel 2, vessel one cannot
load 2 times as much water and essential elements but, rather, 4 times as
much. Expotential factor of 4.
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT20...ng_porous.html

A diffuse porous tree would load moderate amounts of water and elements
dissolved in it during the entire growing season.
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT20...se_porous.html

A conifer with the summer wood trachied becoming thicker walled, thus
reducing amount of loading by 4 as well, would follow the water and element
loading pattern of a ring porous tree.
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/C/conifers.html

So, if you had a white oak and in the summer if you keep the soil soaked it
will not be absorbed thus stimulating root rot.


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Tree Biologist
www.treedictionary.com
and
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
Watch out for so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, tornado's, volcanic eruptions and other
abiotic forces keep reminding humans that they are not the boss.