Water You Doing?

Okay, there is plenty of advice out there on how often and how long one should water their lawn.

I hear plenty of people in this business, and not, hand out this advice to friends, prospects and perhaps customers without ever having actually looked at their property.

This is somewhat like adding some unknown quantity of oil to your car without checking the dip stick.

There is no standard answer except for one part of the equation and it is how much water your species of grass needs per week.


The other two parts of the equation are:

• How much water (in inches) your sprinkler(s) or sprinkler system puts out. Note: The amount of water may vary by type of portable sprinkler or per zone for a sprinkler system. 
• The make-up of your soil (sand, loam, silt, clay or combinations thereof); or more importantly, how much time does it take to wet the soil down to 4' to 6" deep. Note: This is considered deep watering - longer watering time, less frequently. This promotes a strong root system and is less advantageous for weeds.

You don't need to get all mad scientist with this, but, as most of these factors won't change that often, once you figure it out you may save water and have a healthier lawn.

Of course, then there is rain - not much anyone of us can do anything about, but there are rain gauges, and even ones which can be incorporated with most sprinkler systems. Either use could help prevent over-watering and save water.  

Plants

Most plant leaves are not built for absorbing water. In fact, other than absorbing sunlight and releasing gases, leaves are used for releasing moisture from the plant, not absorbing it. There are families, genus and species of plants which do use their leaves to collect/divert water, but not truly absorb it. Nonetheless, in almost every case, the water is still absorbed and/or stored in the roots. 

So, unless unavoidable, try to water your plants at the base (root crown) and the area under the drip line (the circumference of the lowest part of the canopy). This will promote the lateral growth of the root system. 

Also, many plants will simply droop and look wilty if the foliage is watered. Petunias come to mind. And, if watering on a sunny day, the droplets left on some leaves can act as a magnifier and burn the leaves and/or petals.

Diseased or Disease Susceptible Plants

Any fungal disease (its spore) can be spread via water coming onto and moving over the foliage, dripping on to other foliage and then to the ground, into the root system. Again, we can't control the rains, but why add to the potential or existing problem?

Two plants in our region which are very susceptible to Entomosporium (leaf spot) are Red Tips (Photinia fraseri) and Indian Hawthorns (Rhaphiolepis indica). 

If you have either of these two plants you should expect that at some time they will experience this disease if they haven't already.

Watering the foliage of these plants is going to promote leaf spot and definitely not going to help one which already has Entomosporium. 

Note: Most Red Tips are used as hedges and many Indian Hawthorns are grouped closely together in clusters. This reduces potential airflow (less ability to dry) and allows the disease to easily spread from plant to plant by contact. Ground-lying branches and those with a tendency of growing toward the ground should be removed (pruned back to the next joint). 

Note: I recently performed a rehab project (very tedious) on a hedge row of Red Tips in February. Although there are a few fungicides to control Entomosporium, there is still some pruning and hand-work which must be done. We didn't apply any fungicide and so far the plants are recovering. I will wait until mid-summer to feel comfortable with our efforts.