It’s Hot! Your Summer Watering Plan.
How much should I water?
Our summers seem to be getting longer and lawns and plants have less time to acclimate to hotter weather in spring. This means a longer season of watering grass and plants to keep things healthy and growing. Please reach out today if you want to know more, or learn why hiring a professional can help you automate your lawn and plant care.
How much and how long to water your lawn will be decided by a few factors:
-Soil composition/grass variety
-Neighborhood watering restrictions
-Type of water delivery system
-Shade/sun exposure
-Mowing height
-If your lawn is turning brown in June, you aren’t watering enough.
It’s usually the worst parts of your lawn that will start to dry out first. Areas of shallow topsoil, high sun exposure, or areas missed by your irrigation system (or all the above) will require more water or irrigation system adjustments. If you want your lawn to stay green going into summer, you must start watering early and water more than you think is enough.
General watering guidelines for an average lawn in spring/summer:
One-half inch of water every three days is a good starting point. Measure the output of your delivery system whether it’s a portable sprinkler that you move around your yard or the separate zones of your installed system. Any flat-bottomed container will work as a measuring cup. If you are watering one-half inch every three days and your lawn is still drying out, increase the length of your watering sessions. If you are getting to ½ inch of water in 20 minutes, increase that session to 30 minutes. If that isn’t enough, continue to increase the length of the watering session, not the number of days you water. Longer watering sessions mean the water is going deeper, where it is less likely to evaporate and will be available to grassroots. If you have one or two small stubborn areas that won’t retain moisture, consider hand-soaking them every few days rather than over-watering and watering the whole zone. If you have an automatic system that is programmed and maintained by another company, have them show you how the system is currently programmed, especially if the lawn is not getting enough water. You may want them to increase the length of watering time per zone. Water in the early morning hours if you can, so the grass blades will have a chance to dry as the sun comes up. If this is not possible, water whenever you can. Any water at any time is better than none!
Watering plants and trees
With the huge variety of plants in landscapes around our region, the watering requirements are as varied as the plants themselves. It is much easier to get plants and trees through the hot/dry time of year than lawns. Generally, large, established trees and shrubs require little supplemental watering whereas new plantings need more water. If you know the name of the plant you are concerned about, search the internet to find out what it prefers. Some plants thrive in dry soils, others like moist conditions. Often these plants are installed next to each other in a landscape which requires some compromise. Most plants will tell you when they are thirsty as evidenced by wilting leaves or browning out. Most of the woody shrubs used in northwest landscapes are hardy through summer without much supplemental watering. Thorough drying of soils around some root-fungus-susceptible trees can be beneficial in quieting down those pathogens before the next onslaught of fall/winter rains. If you have an irrigation system that waters your planting beds, check to see if the soil has a chance to dry out between sessions. If the soil is perpetually wet, you may want to decrease the number of watering days or length of watering sessions. Perpetually wet soil can be as or more damaging to many plants than dry conditions.
Wolbert’s treatments that require water for best results:
- Lawn treatments: See above. Specific information relative to your treatment will be provided at the time of service.
- Flower bed and bare ground weed treatments: Water may be required to move preemergent material into the soil profile (see associated information provided at the time of service).
- Systemic insecticide injection on trees and shrubs: Keep soil moist for seven days following treatment.
- Superroots plant biofertilizer: Material is stable in the soil until moistened by rain or irrigation
- Superroots with root fungus control: Should be irrigated within seven days if no rainfall.
If you have any questions or concerns or want one of our techs to come out and give you a hassle-free quote, please CONTACT us today!
Thanks for reading, we hope you found this information useful!