Generally five or six loose ragged patches will suffice. And then I flood colour into the clear water. I go with the flow. This is the unique quality of watercolour painting. Water is wet.
Washes are wet.
They move on the paper, they run, they bleed, they settle and dry in their own way. You do not need to push the washes around. Do not try to make them do what they do not want to do or go where they do not want to go. They have a life of their own. Do not manipulate them.