"I water all the time and my lawn still looks terrible!"
This is the most common complaint from many of my clients that have been calling during this hot and dry period. When I respond to the call I first look to make sure that the sprinklers are coming on and running. Second, I check the program to see that the watering is more frequent and for a longer run time. July is the hottest and driest month of the year. Lawn and plants are under great stress to stay healthy and look their best.
Here are the top 10 problems I find :
1. Not watering enough. The average evapotranspiration rate of a plant on a sunny hot day could be 0.25"/day or greater. Equal amounts of water need to be replaced with an irrigation cycle. Check the coverage of the sprinkler heads and make sure that they are covering from one sprinkler head to the next sprinkler head and overlap each other.
2. The water pressure may be to low to allow sprinklers to operate properly due to high demand by all consumers during specific times of the day.
3. Watering during the day when sun is the strong and evaporates most of the water before it penetrates into the soil.
4. Lawns are cut too short. Grass should be cut 3" and higher each time it is mowed in the summer. Cutting it shorter that 3" allows sunlight to bake the soil and roots.
