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Watering Contact: Legend Lawn Care

Watering Your Lawn

Myth: "It just rained, I do not need to water." Truth: The longer the weather stays hot, the warmer the soil gets. When this happens the opposite of over-saturation happens. It is called 'surface tension' or hydrophobia. The soil that makes up your lawn area repels moisture. With this in mind, right after a light shower or a sudden down-pour, you should drag out your sprinkler and finish the job correctly. Nothing beats a good steady rain or a real good soaking by irrigation. It is better to water very heavily 2-3 times a week than to water daily for 30 minutes or less. Water Conservation should always be considered. If you water just as the turf is going into drought stress, (leaf rolling-footprinting-bluegreen color), it will respond quickly. If you wait till the turf is all brown from being in drought it will take weeks of continuous watering to respond and sometimes seeding is necessary. Too Much! Heavy watering daily will create a problem in most cases with root rot, leaf spot and other associated diseases because the roots are always saturated. If the turf is wet during the night disease growth is normally accelerated. All lawns respond differently whether it is caused by varying soils or shade or both. In time you'll know which areas dry out quickest. Some areas in a lawn need to be watered more frequently, other less frequently. Water is a precious commodity and has been taken for granted for many years. As populations expand the more costly it will become to acquire it. Therefore it is important to water in a way that plants can use it with minimal waste and have irrigation set to water the plant material and not buildings, walkways, roads, etc. As soon as you begin to see a bluish-green color on turf grass and slight foot printing watering needs to start! Beyond this point wilting occurs, sporadic browning to total brown out, which will take weeks maybe months of watering for full recovery. At the last stage you will need to measure the value of water verses possible reseeding in fall instead. Grass plants have longer roots in the spring and fall than they do in the summer. We need to get the water where the roots are. Deep infrequent watering in spring and fall would work well, 2-3 times a week and proactively watch for the above mentioned signs to adjust frequency. Summer will require more frequent watering and less volume because if the soil is saturated to a depth of 6" and the roots are only *1.5" long, 4.5" of water is wasted. An automatic watering system is the only way to water effectively and efficiently. Hand watering is to sporadic in timing and usage/coverage. *example only, plant species have different root depths.

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