Watering Your Lawn

Watering Your Lawn By Mark Frye UGA Extension Wayne County

Every year I get several calls to look at lawns to determine what is causing the grass to turn brown. In most cases the damage has simply been caused by dry soil conditions. The good news for this problem is that it can be easily corrected with a good soaking of water. However, this is not as easy as it seems if your sprinkler system is not working properly or if you do not use it properly. It doesn't matter if you use a sprinkler attached to a hose or a permanent sprinkler system. You most know how much water your system is capable of putting out per hour, that it is working properly, and how often and how long to run it.

Most sprinklers apply 1/4 inch of water per hour. If you don't know what your sprinklers' application rate is you need to find out. Different systems apply water at different rates. Hose sprinkler systems vary the most. Space three rain gauges or cans within the watering area of your system. Look at your watch and time the system for one hour and then check your gauges to see what the sprinklers are putting out in one hour. It's also a good way to adjust the system for uniformity. Sprinklers should be laid out to give full overlap. One sprinkler head should water to the next sprinkler head.

Most lawns grow best when they get an inch of water per week, either from rain, irrigation or a combination of the two. Lawns prefer long soakings. In dry weather, water only once or twice a week to get that oneinch of water. This promotes deeper roots. Deep roots mean betterlooking, healthier lawns. Light frequent watering can actually lead to diseases and hurt your lawn, plus this promotes a shallow root system.

You need to water at the right times too. The correct time is in the early morning or late at night. (Midnight to 10 am) We have research and evidence to show that you can lose as much as half the water if it's applied during the peak of the daylight hours. High temperatures and strong winds can blow water off target. Also, watering during the day increases the time grass is wet, particularly in late afternoon. This leads to disease problems. Watering at night won't hurt the grass that's already wet from dew. The turf gets the water more efficiently at night and dries out during the day.

We should all try to use water more efficiently and more wisely. If it rains over an inch in a week, we shouldn't water the lawn. If it doesn't rain at all then 1 to 1 1/2 inches or irrigation will get the job done. Timers usually don't work well because they don't know when it rains and when it doesn't.

If you have questions on irrigating your lawn give us a call at 4275965.