July 2011 Newsletter – How much do I need to water???

Below is an exerpt from our July 2011 Newsletter. Check it out 

 That’s the most frequent question we get from clients.  Everybody wants a set schedule to water their lawn or plants.

From the type of plants, to the weather, to the kind of soil, to varying micro-climes on the same lot, every landscape is different. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to watering.

There really is just one main rule of watering: Give the proper amount of water for the plant’s needs (keeping it healthy) before the plant uses up all the available water in the soil (and the plant dies).

This is a no-brainer really. Think of various plants and lawn as people.  Everyone, whether old or young, big or small needs a certain number of calories to maintain (or grow) their size. Give them too many calories (or water if they are plants) and they will get fat and develop problems, or give them too little calories (or water) and they will not thrive, get sickly and die.

Keeping this in mind, is where you can avoid the silly notion that you can save water on your plants. You can’t reduce the amount of water your plants and lawn NEED. Period. You CAN, however be more efficient with the water you apply to give the proper amount of water WHERE and WHEN the plant needs it.   OR you can select plants and lawn that REQUIRE less water to be healthy.

When should I water? Observation is the KEY. Take a lawn for instance. Since July is the hottest month, this would be a good time to try this test. Thoroughly water your lawn getting it nice and wet (without runoff ) and then check it every day. Look at the leaf blades first. Are they uniformly green or turning a darker, kinda dusky color? On closer inspection, are they flat and moist looking or are they folded and dry looking? Does the lawn spring back when you step on it or does your shoe leave footprints? Monitor your lawn for these telltale signs of drought stress and note how many days it takes for the stress symptoms to show up. Schedule your watering one day before the stress symptoms show up. Now you know how often to water (for now). 

How MUCH should I water?  When you feed a baby, you want most of it to go into the kid, not on the floor. Same with plants. If you apply water faster than the soil can absorb it, water will roll off the top of the soil into puddles or into the gutter and be wasted.

Try this: Note the time. Apply water slowly and evenly until the water starts to run off or puddle. Note how many minutes has elapsed since you started to water. That is the amount of time to water (for now).You could run the sprinklers longer, but it will just be wasted.  Now stick a knife or screwdriver into the soil. How deep does it go in easily? That is how deep the water is getting into the soil and most likely how deep the roots are. It should be 4 to 6 inches minimum.  If your lawn does not look healthy with that amount of water, increase the water  time, but separate into multiple waterings two hours apart so it can soak in and not run off.

OK, once you’ve got your watering schedule for July, (the hottest month) we can adjust the time to run the sprinklers for the other months using the ET(EvapoTransporation rate) for your area .

 Evapotranspiration (ET) is the loss of water to the atmosphere by the combined processes of evaporation (from soil and plant surfaces) and transpiration (from plant tissues). It is an indicator of how much water your crops, lawn, garden, and trees need for healthy growth and productivity.

We can calculate the percent reduction in water for other months, (July being 100%) using the average monthy ET for your area. Adjusting the water budget percentage on your sprinkler timer to the percentage closest to the average calculated.