Whats the latest on watering????

[sparking]

:confused:
Hey! What's the latest on correct lawn watering?? When? Frequency? Quantity? Depth? etc. For years, I had read to water late at night or early in the am and an inch a week (deep) as a rule of thumb. Know it depends on zone, grass type, weather, season.

Last year a university website said to water in the mid-afternoon?? and something different about depth-don't remember. What about the evaporation at midday? I live in southern Michigan, loamy soil and thick Kentucky Blue.

Anyone heard the latest??

Thanks,
Sparking

[turfman59]

How will you know when you have put down an Inch of water over the entire site ?

What is the ET rate at the site
What is the application efficiency
What is the Distribution uniformity

One Inch of water will probably not water a lawn evenly because of the factors above. Hope these clues to scheduling help.

watering of syringing during the day is pretty to look at but plays havoc with the distrubution uniformity.

[Ground Master]

The best advice I can give is to cycle thru your stations. The max for a spray zone is 8 and a rotor zone is 18. If your watering slopes you will have to cut the run times down even more.

[Grassmechanic]

Water deeply and infrequently. 1- 1 1/2 " water/week. Water early in the day. Cut grass higher than 2 1/2" and you can reduce amt. of water needed.

[Ground Master]

how deep?, the majority of roots are in the first few inches of the soil

[HBFOXJr]

Find out the monthly evapo transpiration rates for your climate. Then replace that amount of water through a daily or every other day application. Water between midnight and 8 am.

For us just east of Philadelphia we need about 6-6.5" of water per month ion June and July, everything before and after that is less. So we need about 1.5 inches per week in June/July or .2"+ per day.

If you know or calculate your precipitation rate tehn caluculating run time is easy.

PS Daily watering works very nice. I wasn't a beleiver till I tried it about 3 yrs ago.

[Grassmechanic]

Originally posted by Ground Master
how deep?, the majority of roots are in the first few inches of the soil Watering deeply means just that. By watering deeply, the water will penetrate deeper into the soil profile. Grass roots will seek out water that is deeper in the soil. If a lawn is given a little water each day, the roots will stay in the top couple of inches of soil. Now, if a drought or water restriction is in place, those shallow grass roots won't survive as long as the deeper roots. If you have most roots in the first few inches, then that would be an indicator of improper watering.

[HBFOXJr]

I beg to differ on watering deep. Having moisture through out the entire soil profile where roots exist is key, not an occasional deep watering.

A small dose of daily water to replace what is lost via evaoptranspiration will not cause shallow rooting if you don't wait till moisture is depleted before you start. If you start with dry soil and don't fully rehydrate the root zone before the small daily applications problems will occur.

I've dug test holes in my lawns and pulled soil plugs and the roots are deep. Also the moisture level has been consistent deep into the soil. You just can't start replacement doses of water on a dry soil profile.

[Ground Master]

Grassmechanic- grass roots will not seek out water that is deeper in the soil

[Grassmechanic]

Well, they might not in that thin Colorado air, but they sure did in a 3 yr study I was involved in at Michigan State University.

[turfman59]

can you reference that study, and what professors were involved in it. Could I get access to that study. I am all about learning here.

[Grassmechanic]

Originally posted by turfman59
can you reference that study, and what professors were involved in it. Could I get access to that study. I am all about learning here. That was over 20 yrs ago, but I'll look to see if I can come up with something for you (this may take a bit, as I'm getting busy again). This was done on several different grass varieties. Dr. Rieke and Dr. Beard oversaw the studies.

[alwayswet]

where I work we have two golf courses and I water them both, We use TORO heads and a computerized system . we water at night and it's based on the ET we get from our weather station. I am new at this and would love some input. Has anyone heard of the TORO LTC PLUS??