How often do you water your lawn? (University: homes, buy)

[titaniummd]

How often do you water your lawn? My sprinkler was set for 3 days a week. I am going to try daily to see what happens. It is way too hot....

[riveree]

You're in Clay county, so I'm not sure what the rules are there, but here in Jax you're only supposed to water your lawn twice a week either before 10am or after 4pm.

The downside to watering every day is that your root system will weaken . if you make the roots "work", they will grow more deeply to reach the moisture and this will harden them up/make them more drought resistant.

If you have an irrigation system, try setting it to water early in the AM (4, 5, 6am). This way you will have less evaporation. Be sure you are watering deeply (you can check by setting a can out to collect the water so you can measure it - you want about an inch of water - this often equates to 30 minutes worth of water).

Your lawn should get a little gray (folded up blades) and a little water stressed right before you water it. I wait for the lawn to show those signs before I water it as I want it to become more and more drought resistant.

Watering each day is a recipe for disaster, I'm afraid. A shallow root system and a lawn that's wet each day is an invitation for insects and disease .

Watering less often, but watering deeply is the key to a great lawn .

Here's some great info from the Riverkeepers on how to have an environmentally-friendly lawn:

http://www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org/gr...atyoucando.htm

Here's the University of Florida's Extension office link - there is plenty of free gardening help available here (those Master Gardners are great folks, right Myfask ?):

http://duval.ifas.ufl.edu/

[Lawstudent]

We do it once a week but do a good saturating watering. Our lawn is almost to healthy it is growing very well and I have to cut it at least once a week. Even in this heat we are having. I thin Riveree is right they reccd no more than twice a week and I think that is overkill once seems to be doing great for us.

[FLPL75]

titaniummd
every day is not a good idea.
3/4 to 1 inch twice a week is the suggested watering amount.
Also water early morning to help prevent fungus.

the info riveree posted is great.

yup the master gardeners love to help homeowners with questions

karla

[riveree]

Titamiummd,

While you're waiting for your lawn to "toughen up", there is something you can do to help it along - topdressing.

Topdressing is something the golf courses do to keep those greens looking so green .

A simple topdressing is plain topsoil. Buy some bags of topsoil and spread it across the lawn. If the lawn is small enough, just disperse it in small piles and rake it out smooth. If it's a bigger lawn, use a drop spreader (like you would for fertilizer).

Make sure the blades of grass poke through (for sunlight); it's just a light dressing needed (1 inch max).

This will do a few things:

1) Increase microbial activity (always a good thing )

2) Break surface tension that might be causing runoff/not allowing the water in deep to the roots

I do this when I find spots of my lawn that seem to be drier than others.

If it was a reverse problem - such as a soggy lawn - I'd do the same, only with sand. I sometimes use sand to fill depressions and ocassionally to break surface tension too.

The lawn will hold moisture much better and it's a safe, cheap treatment .

[Buffy123]

Originally Posted by titaniummd

How often do you water your lawn? My sprinkler was set for 3 days a week. I am going to try daily to see what happens. It is way too hot....

I went most of July in a wet spell without watering but once or twice the whole month. Its dry now in August and I am watering about every day with the incredible heat and no rain lately. That centepede grass will burn up fast. Also they say water in the early morning like 6Am give or take. If you water at sundown you can get fungi in the grass and you will have dead spots. And dont water in the afternoon or after you water the sun will burn the tips of the grass and also cause root rot. Im no expert but my grass looks great following these rules....

[mawipafl]

Clay County also restricts watering to no more than twice a week. But for us, in this heat spell, that's been enough. We run our system at 5 am for about 30 minutes. Actually, each zone is a little different since each is watering a different part of our yard - we had to do some tweaking to find the right timing so that we're not overwatering.

[FLPL75]

Woody ornamentals that are established do not need to be watered unless there is a 10 day period without rain.

Again watering your lawn everyday is not only against the watering restrictions, which are in place to help our very low water tables. The rain we received has help to take us from being in a severe drought situation to a moderate one but we are once again in a no rain situation.
It is also not good for your lawn. It promotes a shallow root system and also encourages certain weeds(dollar weeds love water) and fungus's.
These are facts from not only the Duval County extension office but also the University of Florida IAFS service.

As mawipafl said you may have to do some tweaking to make sure each zone is being watered 3/4 to 1 " each time you water.
Also one thing people may not be aware of is when your sprinkler heads were installed were the bushes much smaller?
This is a common occurrence in newer homes. The builder puts in the heads and now that the bushes are larger and established they block the spray from the sprinkler heads. I have had to reposition quite a few of my sprinkler head so they are in front of the bushes instead of the middle.
One thing everyone should do is run their system and check each zone. If you have a few really dry spots make sure the heads in that area are not obstructed.
With most folks running their systems at 4 or 5 am it is hard to tell what is getting watered.
Plus with the heat we have been having, it is a great excuse to "play in the sprinklers"

karla

[mawipafl]

Running the system in the morning's wee hours does mean you don't know what is getting watered and how well unless you like to get up before the birds...which I don't :-) So, we ran the system manually to check it out and discovered a number of things myfask noted: dry spots, heads blocked by mulch, risers much too short now that shubbery has grown. And duh on me - the quaint spot where I placed my comfy glider was right in the path of a major lawn sprinker.

Wish I could play in the sprinklers - but our community uses reclaimed water for that .. we save quite a bit on our water bills, but I can't be a kid and run through the sprinklers on a hot day. boo hiss

[wacahootaman]

I never water my lawn.

It is a low maintenence, river friendly, yard, on 1.7 acres in Old Switzerland along the river south of Jax.

I do water the shrubs when they wilt but never the lawn. The yard is a mixture of weeds, hardy native grasses and some tree sprouts from the large trees.

I mow it once a month on average and it keeps it presentable.

Because I have a deep artesian well, there are no water bills or even electric bills to water my shrubs. I just leave the well spicket open and let the plants soak if need be.

I dont hafta worry bout what my neighbors think cause the yard is completely private and is bordered by giant saw palmettos and native high bluff river hammock woods. The front yard is the same, completely private. It is a beautiful hideaway.

I wouldnt be able to live in a cookie cutter subdivision right next to the neighbor and hafta mow my lawn every week like some folks do.

Like the country song says: If I cant pizz in the front yard, I dont wanna live there.