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As noted by a previous poster 1" of water a week. Preferably in one or two applications. The deeper the water goes, the deeper the roots go. The deeper the roots go, the more drought resistant the lawn will be. Root depth also corresponds to top growth. The higher it's mown, the deeper the roots will go.
It is better to avoid watering at night, nearer to dawn is better as it won't be wet for as long. Light frequent watering should only be used to get newly seeded lawns established or in cases of extreme heat, a practice called syringing. Symptoms of drought stress are a grayish cast, blades rolling up tight and/or footprints that don't spring back but stay much longer.
With heavy clay, stop watering when it just runs off. If it's not being absorbed it's wasted. In sandy soils, watering may need to be more frequent as it's not held in the root area for long. There is no watering in sunlight shock issue. It's good to water in the morning or early afternoon but there may be water pressure issues then.
I have Zoysia in the front and something else in the back. The Zoysia is great. It get brown as soon as it get cold but turns green and stays green the whole summer. The back has never been watered and is crab grass and weeds in a lot of areas. We finally fixed the spigot in backyard because we added a garden.
Zoysia is the worst grass you could have on LI. Good thing you like it because you will never be able to get rid of it. Does your kid like playing in hay?
As noted by a previous poster 1" of water a week. Preferably in one or two applications. The deeper the water goes, the deeper the roots go. The deeper the roots go, the more drought resistant the lawn will be. Root depth also corresponds to top growth. The higher it's mown, the deeper the roots will go.
It is better to avoid watering at night, nearer to dawn is better as it won't be wet for as long. Light frequent watering should only be used to get newly seeded lawns established or in cases of extreme heat, a practice called syringing. Symptoms of drought stress are a grayish cast, blades rolling up tight and/or footprints that don't spring back but stay much longer.
With heavy clay, stop watering when it just runs off. If it's not being absorbed it's wasted. In sandy soils, watering may need to be more frequent as it's not held in the root area for long. There is no watering in sunlight shock issue. It's good to water in the morning or early afternoon but there may be water pressure issues then.
Zoysia is the worst grass you could have on LI. Good thing you like it because you will never be able to get rid of it. Does your kid like playing in hay?
It does feel like hay when it's brown, but I'd rather not have to water. My daughter always plays in the backyard. Never the front. Why do people play in the front when they have a backyard? I never understood this. My neighbors have a HUGE backyard but he always has a catch with his son in the front. It always confused me. Sometimes they even throw across the street from side of the street to the other side. Strange. Maybe it's me.
Zoysia is the worst grass you could have on LI. Good thing you like it because you will never be able to get rid of it. Does your kid like playing in hay?
Had it in our backyard and I loved it (as did the dog). Mom, not so much when we came back in.
I used to live in the arid west. The reason for not watering during the heat of the day is evaporation - the water gets wasted. We always watered in the morning because evening can lead to fungus, even in arid locations. Some plants CAN get damaged if you water them midday in super-hot weather because they open their leaves while you are watering instead of keeping them curled and protecting themselves. Then the sun burns them before they curl up again and if there are droplets of water that magnifies it to burn them even worse. I've never heard of this problem with grass. We never watered more than 3 times a week, even during the high heat dry part of the summer. Watering deeply and having drought tolerant grass seemed to work the best. We had a fescue on the front and bluegrass for the rest. The fescue was very drought tolerant and stayed green with minimal water. It went dormant sooner and woke up later. The bluegrass was awful for water usage, that was some thirsty grass.
^ yes the bluegrass has been a pain for me to manage, but that's what all sod seems to come in. Couldn't wait for seeding after all the construction tore up nearly the entire lawn.
I've been told by many landscapers that if you water the grass while it has been getting a lot of sun it can cause it to go into shock and die.
My dad got the same advice from the Cornell cooperative. He brought a chunk of turf in for analysis because it was turning brown. It was because he programmed the sprinkler to come on midday. My sprinklers are on every other day for about 90 minutes total alternating through the zones in the the whole yard.
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