Ways You Can Conserve Water
There are plenty of ways to help conserve water, whether it’s not letting the water run while you’re brushing your teeth, taking a shorter shower, using less water in a bath, or even not flushing that number 1 and only that number 2...GROSS! But seriously one of the best ways to conserve is to water smarter on your property.
It’s hard to know if you are overwatering or underwatering at times especially when we have far-swinging weather from sometimes freezing in the winter to 100+ in the summer. During the summer, it’s only natural to feel you need to water more during that excessive heat of the summer. However, this is counterproductive since fungus sets in due to too much water and is generally followed by mistaking fungus in your grass as dry grass since they are similar in appearance. A common reaction is to water more, thinking that the grass is burning up but in turn, this is only fueling the fungus and wasting more water. Three things to help remedy this are: treat the problem with a good fungicide, apply a moisture control that will positively retain moisture control instead of a negative way, and address what is causing the problem. Changing your water practices, it not only help your grass health, but it will further help conserve water.
We all want our yards to stay beautiful, lush, and green. And with one of our most precious resources water, we have to find ways to conserve. So ask yourself, “Am I killing my lawn and plants with intended kindness and in turn wasting that precious resource?” If so, look to the water conservancy and their suggested watering practices. The best one that we have found is to “cycle and soak” and we have seen great success with it. Because everyone’s landscape and irrigation system is different, you may need to adjust your schedule differently or hire a landscaper to help you dial everything in. Variables such as soil, weather, flow rate, and plant type will affect irrigation needs.
The cycle and soak method of watering on grass is watering several times a day, an hour or two apart. This allows water to soak deep into the soil creating healthy roots and eliminating runoff. This way days can be skipped between waterings. Even in the peak of summer, watering every other day (at most) is sufficient. Watering less frequently teaches the grass that it can’t rely on having water every day. This stresses the grass just enough to teach the roots to grow deep into the soil to seek after water. Grassroots, believe it or not, can grow up to and even more than 6’ deep to find water. Once you can train your grass roots to grow this deep, it helps your grass become extremely hearty.
So how does this look and what can we do to start this?
Run 3 cycles per watering day
1 hour between each cycle
5 minutes for a fixed spray or 10 minutes for a rotating spray (times can vary based on coverage of sprinkler heads, slopes, condition of soil, etc.)
Monitor and adjust as needed
Have days in between with no watering to further train your grass and allow it to air out and breathe. Drip, water low and slow to allow plants, trees, and shrubs to be watered directly at the root, using a low pressure for a longer period of time.
Water based on your drip emitter’s rate of flow:
20 – 40 minutes for high-flow emitters (deliver a steady, light stream of water; up to 20 gallons per hour)
30 – 90 minutes for low-flow emitters (deliver bead-like droplets; 1-4 gallons per hour)
If a plant appears to be stressed, check around the plant bowl and the roots to determine if the soil is dry or waterlogged, both conditions can cause plants to show a wilted appearance. If you have issues manifesting your irrigation should be adjusted to fit your property.
Additional practices that you can do:
Avoid watering from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the summer months
Adjust sprinkler heads so they don’t spray walls, driveways, or sidewalks
Trim around sprinkler heads so the lawn doesn’t block the water spray
Use the most efficient types of nozzles and irrigation clocks
If you don’t know or aren’t familiar with how your irrigation clock works, find someone who does to avoid mistakes.
Check the sprinkler system weekly and immediately replace broken or missing parts
Overwatering and underwatering can cause brown spots; be sure to check water pressure and sprinkler coverage and adjust as needed
We can all help and do our part to water our property smarter and in turn help the health of our grass and plants out as well as to conserve water for the future.
