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Lawn Care Watering Tips from Turf King

Approximately 85% of the weight of a grass plant is water. Furthermore your lawn loses about 95% of the daily water uptake through transpiration. This means that grass can remain green and vigorous only if there is sufficient soil moisture. Natural rainfall may provide adequate moisture in some areas and for certain times of the year. During other seasons, irrigation is needed.

A word about summer dormancy: Grasses in general are able to withstand drought conditions by resting. The blades turn brown to conserve moisture. When autumn brings rain and cooler temperatures, the plant revives and starts to grow again. A few of our customers tell us that they simply cannot, do not or will not water their lawns during the summer. In most situations, the lawn will go brown, but usually will not die. (Do apply enough water to keep the crowns of the plants alive.) It may not look acceptable, but in the fall it will revive. Our organic-based fertilizers will help dormant lawns to retain more green than otherwise.

Drought-stressed lawns are more prone to insect damage than well-watered lawns. Sometimes insect damage may be confused with drought damage. It's easy to assume the lawn is brown because of drought.

Avoid mowing a lawn under drought stress conditions. Moisture is needed to protect the plant from collapse and damage. Diseases can also be spread under those conditions.

Before planning your watering program, determine your soil conditions. In sandy soil, more than 1/2 inch of water applied at one time will simply go down beyond the reach of the grass roots. Thus, sandy soils have to be watered more often.

On clay soils, water does not penetrate easily and excess water is easily lost by rapid runoff. The clay holds water tightly and unavailable to the grass roots.

Lawns with excess thatch suffer from drought stress. Thatch is that layer of dead but undecomposed roots and stems above the soil. Thatch acts like a sponge. It can also act as a thatch roof and prevent water from penetrating the soil. Core aeration is recommended to reduce thatch and also to allow better water penetration.

In general your lawn needs about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water per week. Often people say, "I watered for 2 hours." Since water pressures and sprinklers vary this doesn't tell the whole story. The best way to measure watering is by inches (or centimeters) of water. To determine how much water you are applying, place several flat-bottomed, straight-sided cans under your sprinkler for about 30 minutes. Measure the amount of water in the cans to determine how long you need to water your lawn.

When watering,  move the sprinkler if the water starts to run off the surface. If more watering is needed, move the sprinkler back when the water has had a chance to seep into the soil.

 


 If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:

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or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)

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Copyright 2012 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.

 If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:

Home Page

or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)

 If you would like more information, please Contact us

Follow us on Twitter  http://twitter.com/turfkingofgreen

Join our Facebook page  

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