Yard maintenance - brown patches (Buffalo, Lawn: live, areas, schedule)

[HappyTexan]

Don't bother fighting it..the drought will win in the long run.
Everyone else is in the same boat so might as well just go with the flow.
I'm just hand watering around the foundation..everything else has gone dormant it seems.
Native grasses shut down when there's no water.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by didadi

@CptnRn - where can I find more info on the rebates for resodding? (hopefully I don't have to do this later). :-) Thanks for the info folks.

Here is the website. I had not read it recently. Looks like the City anticipates even more extreme watering restrictions this fall.

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR LANDSCAPE CONVERSION APPLICANTS
Due to the exceptional drought, there is a possibility of additional watering restrictions during the fall installation period that would limit watering via automatic and hose end sprinklers to one day per week. Supplemental hand watering would be allowed on any day. If the area of conversion is too large to be watered effectively under those conditions, applicants may apply during the fall schedule and opt to delay installation until restrictions are lifted and receive the rebate at that time. Non irrigated rebates will not be affected by water restrictions and will be processed as outlined in the program guidelines.

City of Austin - Water Conservation - Landscape Conversion Incentive Program

The rebate never was very large, and it looks like it has gotten even more restrictive. And reading the FAQ I see they no longer include drought tolerant sod replacements in the program. Lots of good information here. http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/water/con...versionfaq.htm

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

You could do like my neighbor and water EVERY NIGHT regardless of restrictions. His lawn is green and vibrant and overgrown, and everyone elses is dry and brown. Really annoying actually. Shrug. I don't know who he thinks he is fooling sneaking out at 11.30 and turning on the sprinklers. Obviously if you have the only green lawn on the block, you are not Gaea mistress of the enviornment, everyone KNOWS you are watering.

I water my lawn according to the watering restrictions, twice a week, and most of it is green and vibrant, with a few burnt patches where it was mostly bermuda. After several years of watering less, I decided it was cheaper to give the lawn what water it needs then to replace large patches of sod each year.

Watering during the early morning hours, before sunrise, is actually better for your lawn. It allows more water to seep into the soil instead of evaporating. I water between 3 and 5 am.

[bpvarian]

turn in your neighbors - the city comes by at night after you report them.
here is where you can report illegal water use:
City of Austin - 311 Citywide Customer Information Center Web Intake Form (http://tinyurl.com/phk737 - broken link)

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I water my lawn according to the watering restrictions, twice a week, and most of it is green and vibrant, with a few burnt patches where it was mostly bermuda. After several years of watering less, I decided it was cheaper to give the lawn what water it needs then to replace large patches of sod each year.

Watering during the early morning hours, before sunrise, is actually better for your lawn. It allows more water to seep into the soil instead of evaporating. I water between 3 and 5 am.

I live in a new community, and there are no shade trees. I water twice a week according to water restrictions, and my grass, while not quite dead, is no where near my neighbors. He looks like he has a tropical rainforest over there. While grass that is established can stay green if it has shade trees with limited waterings, my neighbor manages to keep his 2 year old sod verdant with no shade. He has quite the green thumb, at least that's what he wants you to think! LOL

[love roses]

We have a few of those types in our neighborhood too.

[CarnivalGal]

We are sticking to our 2-day watering schedule. And our sprinklers are set to start going off at 2:00 in the morning, so the coolest time possible. But we still have some brown patches.

We went through the same thing in 2009, and the grass came back after we started getting rain again. Just keep doing what you're doing. Hopefully, it is not dead, just stressed and going dormant, and will come back after it cools off and when we get some rain again.

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by mm57553

We are sticking to our 2-day watering schedule. And our sprinklers are set to start going off at 2:00 in the morning, so the coolest time possible. But we still have some brown patches.

We went through the same thing in 2009, and the grass came back after we started getting rain again. Just keep doing what you're doing. Hopefully, it is not dead, just stressed and going dormant, and will come back after it cools off and when we get some rain again.

Yeah, that's what I am going to do. It's just frustrating because the big green english style front lawns that come with houses are just not designed to survive Austin summers. But between an HOA and buyer expectations, you have no choice but to fight that losing battle with your lawn.

I wouldn't mind at all letting the whole yard die and building a raised garden in it's place, but then I would never be able to sale my house.

[didadi]

Hey - I want to stick to 2 day / week watering schedule too..Common, there is no water to drink for human beings and animals, the super-green lawn is last of my priority..But still the yard looks totally dry! - brown i meant - :-)...I hope i don't need to resod next year....& now I want to make sure that it does not die totally.... :-(.

My neighbor also waters may be 3 days a week,but his lawn is VERY green...I think its to do with watering + some lawn care that I'm missing..

thanks all for ur inputs....

Lesson learnt: Abide by rules and plant more trees instead of stupid GREEN lawn ;-).

[Trainwreck20]

We used to water less than the schedule (every 5 days), but that put us off schedule. So although we were watering less, we were in violation of the ordinance... This year, we can barely keep our 'sunny' grass alive even though we water every time we are allowed. Our neighbor waters at least one day a week extra, but I don't begrudge him that, since he is selling his house. His neighbor on the other side left the country for the summer and their yard is utterly dead....

Shade makes all the difference...everywhere we have enough shade, we are doing fine.