I bet you clicked on this thread hoping it was about pot? Dope head hahaha!
Well sorry Maybe try yourastoner.com
Its about my lawn. With only one day a week to have the sprinklers on I usually just hand water 3 times a week.
My question is to all the green thumbs out there. When is the best time to water your lawn?
At night so the water can soak in? Will watering the lawn on a hot day burn the lawn? Shoud it be soaked?
Any tip to having the greenest and best looking lawn in the street would help
Rip up lawn, plant native bush. Watch it grow with minimal water and it will attract birds
I'm no expert, but i would think before the sun comes up in the morning. Coldest time, minimal evaporation etc.
Didn't know lawn could be burnt with water?
I could give you reams of lawn care tips but I am not going to as I don't want to subject you to the most mind numbingly gormless occupation that man has devised.
Kill it with weed mat and plant shrubs, you will never regret it. You can throw your lawn mower away and extend your life expectancy and add more value to your existence!
Late afternoon, around sunset...gives the water a chance to reach the roots without evaporating. Watering on a hot day will cook the grass & most of the water will be lost to evap.
Or...all the above. Lawn grass isn't a native, so if you want to be truly 'green', attempt to revert the yard to what it originally was...good luck with that!
I'm all for the native shrub back to original yadda yadda yadda,
but there's something about a freshly mown lawn......
makes me think i should do it more often...
and cease to be the one house in the street whom everyone thinks is abandoned
Somehow my 3 boys who are ball sports crazy wouldn't appreciate me ripping up our beautiful turf soccer, football, running, wrestling, frisbee pitch.
I have always watered on dusk or after the sun goes down as everyone has suggested it lets the moisture soak in. My other theory with this is any overnight dew has a better chance of being taken up by the soil. Depending on soil type, a wetting agent can save you heaps of water too. I also leave my grass clippings on the lawn but make sure there are no big clumps to potentially kill the grass (dead matter can promote mould growth). Should be fertilizing this time of year too.
You should water early morning like 0400 - 0500 in summer.
Reason is plants use water in the daytime
Water + CO2 + cholorophyll + sunlight = glucose or something like that. At night the plants use the energy from the day and if you burn glucose you produce water as a byproduct.....some of which is lost out thru the leaves. That is why your grass is damp in the morning) Well that is my hazy recollection of biology... but in short they use water in the day and at night it is no good to them they only take up a bit
So no point watering at sunset
Other thing is too much watering makes the plant shallow rooted (why build lotsa deep roots looking for water if you don't have to) so it is less drought tolerant and less hardy in general.
People get all upset about water rostering (I do too, because of the reasons it is implimented.....) however really it is good for the gardens. One good soaking per week in spring and 2 good soakings per week in summer is good for roots. 10mins every day is not.
Agree with wetting agent too. I'm told you can use dishwashing detergent applied very weakly as apparently that Wettasoil is nothing special and expensive. Haven't tried detergent meselves though......
What Mark said..
and wetta soil put on by watering can once every 3 months...
and watered in.
I actually don't water from about April till October...
don't need to
and these days my fertilizer is a Tea of poo
which I put on every thing
I haven't watered for years except when getting new plants established. Not since water restrictions were first imposed (and then lifted) in Sydney way back. The plants that couldn't cope died. They got replaced by ones that could. Most of the plants just kept going and now they all look after themselves. Some of the grass didn't cope but it couch (and a lot of weeds) grew up in its place. Mow it and it looks green just about like lawn should. Good enough.
I've got a neighbour a few doors up that spends countless hours watering and feeding his grass, mows at least twice a week. No other plants, just grass. The man needs a life I reckon.
Greenie,
I have toilled over a lawn which has moments of glory and others that make all the effort seem like a waste of time.
Having experimented with wetting agents, different sprinklers, different watering times, fertilizers....etc.
The best advice that I have come up with so far is:
- water early morning around 4am, this will give the H2O the chance to seep in, hence minimising evaporation
- water less frequently but for longer
- dont mow your lawn too short - doesnt help with aspects of water loss
- plant Kikuyu - this is a southern hemisphere lawn which is tough as (only one recommended by schools in WA and the type you mainly see around Kings Park) as it can be trampled to death by kids and pets and still looks good, has deep roots, and is fairly drought resistant - problem is that it has runners (not a problem - pull 'em out when they get into the garden beds - couch does the same)
- the other new fashion in retic also is drip system that runs under the lawn - apparently uses less water, doesnt have runnoff or water blowing everywhere during a strong breeze, is more effective at getting to the roots, cant be seen
Having said all that I am minimising as much lawn as possible and putting in natives - dont go the plastic grass unless you dont mind burning your feet during summer.
Yeah,. wot Mark_Aus said,.. mostly.
Except for the "too much watering makes the grass shallow rooted"
I think he meant watering too often makes grass shallow rooted.
If you water it too much, then the water soaks deeper down and the roots follow it down, thus making them deeper rooted,.
Growing grass is all just a solar powered energy system. It works like this.
When the sun shines, the grass stores the incoming energy by converting the CO2 in the atmosphere plus water from the soil into celluose products.
You can get this energy back anytime by just drying the grass out and burning it. What you get back is the same energy that fell on the grass as it was growing, less whatever was lost in inefficiencies in the growing process.
Or,.. you can feed the grass to cows and they convert the low grade energy stored in the grass to higher grade or more dense energy stored as meat and fat. It's still the same energy that fell on the grass as it was growing but less of it due to inefficiencies in the process.
e.g. they seem to plop lots of it on the ground so you can step in it from time to time when you're not paying sufficient attention. It's a free service they provide to add some variation to your otherwise dull life.
Then,.. when they have stored enough, they present themselves to be shot so we can eat them. It's another service they freely provide.
So after we eat them, we convert the energy in the meat and fat into energy to go windsurfing which makes us breath out CO2 back into the atmosphere.
It's still the same energy that fell on the grass but less of it due to inefficiencies in the process.
The CO2 is then used to grow more grass, and around it goes again,.. and again,.. and,..
So get that grass growing, and LOTS OF IT!
Nebbs that would not suprise me I heard it from some dood on the internet
Wettasoil granular (lasts longer) cost me $50 to do front and back lawn about errmmm maybe 500sqm. Plus fertiliser makes it about $100 for a joint I don't own.
Concrete is your friend,
Never have to waste water on it,weed it, miss time down the beach cause you need to mow it.
Dont have to get up at 4am to water it(now thats crazy).
Your kids will become better sportsmen cause they will learn quickly when playing sports in the back yard to not fall over, otherwise that back yard grass(green painted concrete) will grind a few layers of skin off..
You even wont have to clip your dogs claws,the crete keeps em dull.
All this = more time down the beach.
PS If you would like more handy hints on getting MORE time on the water,
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Mondo grass pain in the arse to plant it but i have it havent mowed it once pulled a few weeds and thats about it just dont let the dog piss on it turns yellow
How about some info on runners and if i put them in this week will the area i have for em be right by xmas?