The Concha ceanothus is well adapted to warm and sunny climate conditions throughout the Inland Empire. Established plants grow well with only periodic deep irrigation in the summer; overwatering is to be carefully avoided. Ceanothus are vulnerable to disease problems and sudden death when summer irrigation produces moist soil and leaf litter conditions during the summer months.
The chart shown below provides a recommended baseline guide to the monthly irrigation schedule and volume of supplemental water needed to maintain healthy growth throughout the average year. It should be noted there are several months indicated by an asterisk (*) when winter rains can provide sufficient moisture and irrigation is not needed. The high and low range of moisture indicates it can grow with varying amounts of water; it is desirable to have leaf litter and the top layer of soil beneath the canopy to dry out between irrigation applications.
|
Jan* |
Feb* |
Mar* |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov* |
Dec* |
Runs per Month |
0x to 2x |
0x to 2x |
0x to 2x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
0x to 2x |
0x to 2x |
Inches per Run |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
|
Inches per Month |
0″ to 2″ |
0″ to 2″ |
0″ to 2″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
0″ to 2″ |
0″ to 2″ |
Range of supplemental summer water: 7"
Range of supplemental winter water: 0"-10"
|
0″-2″ |
0″-2″ |
0″-2″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
0″-2″ |
0″-2″ |
|
Jan* |
Feb* |
Mar* |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov* |
Dec* |
For more information on how to use this Irrigation Schedule and Graph, follow this link.
For information how to calculate your irrigation system’s schedule and precipitation rate, please follow this link.
Prune by heading back as much of the new-ish growth as desired in April or May, after flowering. Further prune in the same way, if desired, in November. New growth over the cool season will have time to develop flower buds for spring. Ceanothus are browsed by Deer. Think like you are a deer having a snack with your pruners. By mid-winter it is too late to prune or you will be removing the growth that would form the flower buds that will bloom in Spring (1). Not pruning immediately after flowers fade will result in branches with leaves, followed by stems with no leaves (where the flowers were) followed by leaves again. For dense shrubs, be sure to prune off the spent flower clusters. Ceanothus tend to die or not live long if given too much summer water. They are beautiful and very rewarding plants to grow, but not necessarily the easiest for new gardeners because of this (3). Older branches often do not react well to pruning, so it is better not to prune any branches greater than the diameter of a pencil (7).
References