Turf Tips… watering tips for a better looking lawn!

 

Water deep and less often - Watering deep will allow the grass roots to stay deep into the soil and promote a stronger root system. Watering shallow and more often encourages shallow rooted grasses and helps promote newly germinated weed seeds including crabgrass.  

 

 

How much water? - This depends on many factors like soil type, temperatures and previous rainfalls. Overall we recommend 1-1.5 inches per week. We recommend watering deep and infrequently, watering 0.5 icnh per watering session. Avoid light waterings. We recommend more water for sandy soils and hot temperatures through summer. A rain gauge can help determine the amount of rainfall and you can adjust your watering times as needed.

 

 

Allow soil surface to dry inbetween waterings - Allow the surface of the soil to dry. This will discourage weed seeds to germinate. Watering everyday for shorter periods will encourage weed seeds to germinate and allow weeds and unwnated crabgrass to thrive.

 

 

Early morning is best - Water your grass anytime your schedule allows, but the optimal time is early morning. Wet grass overnight helps promote disease. Watering through the day will allow higher water loss due to evaporation.

 

 

How to tell how much water you are putting down - you can lay  flat bottomed cans over your lawn and run your system for 15 minutes. Then measure the amount in the bottom of the cans. Take the average and this will give you the exact amount.

 

For example:    If you put 4 cans out and run your system for 15 minutes. Add all the totals of the 4 cans and divide them by 4, this will you give you the output for every 15 minutes of run time. So, if your average is 0.25 inches and you want to water your lawn 1 inch per week, you can water for 30 minutes twice per week.