Drought, restrictions, water conservation

[ELS Landscape]

Originally Posted by Weekend cut easymoney

What is the 'crust' called which developers on top of the soil after it dries out? Until water saturate s this crust it runs off ...
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They say Gypsum will help that but you need a lot of it. We see it often when there are extended periods of drought where there is irrigation. We have to have a good rain to wash those salts away. I think they are just evaporative calcareous salts that build up in Alkaline soils. We have relatively hard water, even the surface water and the high pH of the soil just combine and form the that crust. A good heavy low pH rain will fix it.

[Weekend cut easymoney]

We are getting into an alternate compliance program and are considering using some compost tea on a large scale ....

Todd, or anyone, have any experience with the company called Banyan? Offering some sort of program to convert equipment at low cost to save water...maybe taking a share of savings...

More water management which is where we are headed also.

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by Weekend cut easymoney

whic ing moisture for uniform du when using drip for grass

It is termed capillary water, capillary flow, unsaturated flow .... and it varies with soil type. Generally as your particle size decreases, your capillary water movement zone will increase. This zone of capillary movement with respect to water tables is termed the capillary fringe.

Originally Posted by Weekend cut easymoney

how much organic matter can change this

Considerably depending on soil type.

Originally Posted by Weekend cut easymoney

can water move upwards so the drip can be installed lower so aeration can be performed.

Yes, as it will during diurnal cycles. You should be able to install SDI in a mature lawn below a standard aeration depth in most soils. That said, proper lateral spacing and consistent burial depth will make or break an SDI system in turf.

Originally Posted by Weekend cut easymoney

slope can matter if du is poor,no?

Yes it can, in all scenarios.

Originally Posted by DanaMac

The problem with that is first getting the water TO the soil. With thick thatch and layers of built of crap, sometimes the water will run off on slopes before it can even get to the soil. Yes, the customer should do proper aeration and other processes to prevent this, but it doesn't always happen.

If you have thatch, then that needs to be considered if it is impacting infiltration rates. The point is, you don't need to cycle and soak if you aren't exceeding the infiltration rate of the soil/area you are irrigating. This is especially important in regions that are requred to get water down within a certain time window.

Originally Posted by Weekend cut easymoney

What is the 'crust' called which developers on top of the soil after it dries out? Until water saturate s this crust it runs off ...

Soil crusting.

Originally Posted by ELS Landscape

They say Gypsum will help that but you need a lot of it. We see it often when there are extended periods of drought where there is irrigation. We have to have a good rain to wash those salts away. I think they are just evaporative calcareous salts that build up in Alkaline soils. We have relatively hard water, even the surface water and the high pH of the soil just combine and form the that crust. A good heavy low pH rain will fix it.

Gypsum will help if the crust is result of salt induced soil dispersion, which is not the only cause of soil crusting. This is a bigger issue in areas where the irrigation water is of poor quality and areas where ET exceeds rainfall. Irrigation and rainfall will cause it too, but gypsum will do little to nothing to fix it. Mulch your bare soil to mitigate.

[DanaMac]

Restricted to 62 gallons of water per home, for one district in pueblo, CO. No outdoor watering. They are recommending people take clothes to laundromat, buy bottled water, etc, to stay under the limits.

http://www.koaa.com/news/families-in...t-water-usage/

[agrostis]

62 gallon's a day...that's not much at all.

[LawnMastersTx]

Originally Posted by Weekend cut easymoney

Todd, or anyone, have any experience with the company called Banyan? Offering some sort of program to convert equipment at low cost to save water...maybe taking a share of savings...

Banyan has come into the Texas market with full force. They started in Cali and bought a company in Texas to expand. From what I hear they remove the existing controllers and install their specific type and then receive payment based on water saved. I believe they do water management and repairs.