> -----Original Message----- > From: owner-chile-heads@globalgarden.com > [mailto:owner-chile-heads@globalgarden.com]On Behalf Of Mild to Wild > Pepper & Herb Co > Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2000 7:40 PM > To: Steve Nearman > Cc: chile-heads@globalgarden.com > Subject: Re: [CH] watering question > > > Got to agree with Steve on this one. > > Even as a child I wondered about the 'don't water during the day' > thing. I, too, noted that it would storm & then the sun would shine. > When the chiles need water, they get watered- simple as that! I've never noticed any burning from watering in hot sun, although it just occurred to me that a wet leaf might have _less_ effective wet surface area to evaporate and hence cool itself than a dry leaf. A dry leaf cools via the pores through which it transpires. And the effective surface area of these pores is much larger that the surface area of the leaf, iirc botany 101. It could cook after the watering stops and before the water evaporates from the leaf. A wet leaf would be hotter, in this case. Probably hotter to the touch. The leaf would 'stew' while wet. I'm not going to experiment on my chiles, but I might try one of Mary's tomatoes--it's a bit warm in SoCal today! ;-) Possibility, maybe, but I've never really noticed it. What I intended to say is the tale goes that 'burning' is caused by water droplets acting as a lens in the sun and burning the leaf. If you recall using a lens in the form of a magnifying glass, one must hold the lens a significant distance from the heated surface, focusing the light. This is the focal length. Putting your hand or another object at the surface of the lens doesn't heat it up very much. My point is to burn via this mechanism the focus has to be very close to the surface of the leaf. This is possible with small lenses. However, the droplet shares a surface with the leaf. So the focal point of the lens (droplet) has to be on or close to the surface of the lens. In a random distribution of drop sizes, while this may be possible, it would be very unlikely. The focal length of a hemispherical lens is something I can't find quickly. Anyone have it handy? But see: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/single_image/0,5716,12513+asmbly%5 Fid,00.html However, to do significant damage it would seem that the average distribution of the focal point would have to be on the surface of he leaf/droplet common surface. Seems to me very unlikely. But the droplet could heat up and, as above, stew it. I gotta get back to work! Riley