By Tom Heald
Watering your lawn consumes more water than anything else you will ever do around your home, costing you money. And, it is not only wasteful, but may not even do the job you are expecting it to do. Figuring out the proper way to water your lawn is not that difficult, so let's get started.
How Much Should You Really Water?
A traditional Kentucky
bluegrass lawn will need supplemental water in dry, windy Wyoming. How much to apply? That depends – on your soil. My soil is different than yours. Water will soak faster into sandy soil than a mostly clay soil. Likewise, sandy soil will dry faster than
clay soil, so the sandy soil gets watered more frequently and for shorter
periods of time. Clay soils need less
frequent but longer watering times.
The 1 Foot Principle.
More than 98 percent of the
lawn grass roots exist in the top 12 inches of the soil - so only water to
accommodate that 12 inches. Watering
deeper than that wastes water and watering less than that will cause a more
water-dependent lawn.
It takes less time for 3 inches
of watered soil to dry out than one watered to 12 inches. Grass roots will grow
only to the depth of the irrigated soil. If you water every other day for 15 minutes, the health of your lawn is
being compromised by not allowing the roots to grow deeper.
Calibrate Your Watering
Here’s how to calibrate your
watering whether a sophisticated irrigation system or a hose used - the
principle is the same. Let the grass go
into drought stress. By that I mean
when you walk across it, it doesn’t spring back - that means it’s time to water. Only this time, time the watering. Water for 15 minutes. With a spade and ruler, cut a section of the
lawn and measure how many inches the water penetrated. Twelve inches is the target. If the water only got to 3 inches, put the
plug back into the lawn and water again for another 15 minutes. Check again. How far did the water penetrate the soil? Keep fussing until you get the time needed
to water to 12 inches. Write that time
down and always water for that length of time.
Your front yard will be different from your back yard, and your
side yards. So it is conceivable that
the front yard gets water for 20 minutes the backyard for 35 minutes and side
yard for 45 minutes. You have calibrated your irrigation system! So now you know how long to water the next
question is how frequent. In April and
May once every 7 – 14 days between irrigations is all that is needed. That time between irrigation may extend
longer this time of year because that’s Wyoming wet season. Now let’s think about July, the temperatures
are in the 90’s with a 25 mph wind and a relative humidity of 10%. The irrigation frequency changes, it maybe
once every 4 to 7 days depending on your soil type. As the growing season goes into autumn, switch back to the
April/May watering frequency.
By following this strategy,
you’ll save 20% on your water bill and still have a lawn that looks great! Now the best part is this same strategy
works for your trees and for your garden plants. Lastly, this style of watering will dramatically cut back lawn
diseases that must have lots of frequent water to do their damage. It’s time to toss the every other day
watering out the window!
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