First some watering basics:
-It is best to soak deeply less frequently than
a little bit every day.
-Water in the early morning (2-6am) due to lower
evaporation.
-Properly mulched beds need less water than turf
areas.
Recommended Lawn
Watering (per week)
1-1.5 inches every week for Bermuda grass during
June, July and
August. Buffalo grass needs 25% less water and
St. Augustine needs about 15% more.
How
Much to Water:
Apply enough water to wet the soil to a depth
of 4-5 inches. Use a soil probe or screwdriver
to determine the depth the water actually reaches.
Use
a sprinkler that emits large drops of water that
remain close to the ground, not one that sprays
a fine mist into the air. The average pop-up sprinkler
head is designed to apply 1-1 1/2 inches of water
if they were run continuously for an hour.
A
general guide to start with is to water twice
per week at about 20-25 minutes per station or
three times a week for 15 minutes per station.
Many systems have runoff if operated over 10 minutes,
so set the run time over multiple cycles on the
same day to apply the same amount of water to
soak in. An example would be:
| Apply
15 minutes of water on one day - with three
start times. |
| Start
time #1: 4:00am for 5 minutes |
| Start
time # 2: 5:00am for 5 minutes |
| Start
time #3: 6:00am for 5 minutes |
Remember
these are general guidelines to start with. Run
your system, make observations, and adjust accordingly.
Typically, side yards and mulched beds need less
water than turf areas. Also—don't forget
to take advantage of what rainfall we get in the
summer.
If
you would like to determine how much water your
sprinkler applies:
Put out containers in each zone and measure how
much water after running the system for 15 minutes.
Multiply this by 4 to get your inches per hour.
There may be a variance from one zone to another.
The knowledge gained from this exercise can save
many gallons of water!
