i'm sure it's much different with in ground trees. but in container culture, one day of rain won't really help with watering. most o the time, after the rain, i have to water again. last few days we had above 90 degree weather. in this heat, i have to water them anyway. but i thought few hours of rain would have helped. but finding next day, the trees are drooping again unless i water them. 

i guess what's going on is that most of the rain does not hit the soil in the container. even if they do, they will either overflow or will not soak into the soil before they get evaporated. 

Probably has to do with the fact that in container culture roots are concentrated, and thus more roots per sq foot of surface which receives the rain. I am just guessing, but I think you probably need twice as much rain equivalent for the same surface area of a container plant than one in the ground.

Rain is a nice way to get the soil slightly saturated but I have the same issue as you, I will normally have to water deeply after a rain still when the summer hits but in the spring and fall it seems to be fine.  It gets worse as the canopy develops and less rain gets into the container.

What is this 'rain' about which you speak?

Gina,

rain, n.   1) water that precipitates in the upper atmosphere and falls to the ground.
            2) an anagram for Iran  (a country in the middle east).
       v.  3)an event that used to happen in when water fell from the sky, before the widespread drought in the southwestern U.S. of the early 21st century

Sincere empathy for the drought you are experiencing in Southern California.

Mike

When I have to leave the watering duties to someone else, my instructions include, "If it's raining, do not water.  Restart the watering schedule the next day."  I completely agree the rain is not a substitute for watering a containerized tree.  At best it buys you a day.

Pete, depending on how much rain you got, your trees could be root bound.  When I water them in the morning and by 4PM, my SWP is empty, my trees plus high temps means either water them again or upsize to a larger pot!  I got 8 trees in 5gal SWPs that HAS to be upsize this weekend or I won't get figs this year.  THis happened to my Piedmonte fig last year.  I only got a few figs but this year its in a huge SWPs and its loaded with figs!!!!!

I guess it also depends on how it rains. If it's a heavy shower, mostly it will just run away. If it's a drizzle for long hours (as it's common in Vancouver here), it will definitely soak the soil through. For the same amount of rain, a drizzle will help the plant longer.

Gina,

To rub salt in your parched wounds....we got 1.67" of rain in the last hour.