Failing To Repair Leaking Water Lines And Sprinkler Heads Is A Violation
Visually inspect your sprinkler system once a month during daylight hours. Check and fix any tilted, clogged, or broken heads. Also check your sprinkler valves. Although watering during the day is not allowed, we understand that you won’t notice problems with your system unless you see it in operation.
How Often Do You Need To Water In Utah
Due to the severe drought, we recommend watering 2 times per week in Northern Utah and 3 times a week in Southern Utah to help extend the water supply. The goal during extreme drought conditions isnt lush landscapes but rather survival watering to keep high-value plants alive like trees and shrubs.
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Other Watering Guidelines To Consider:
- Proper watering is critical to your lawns health and vigor. Deep and infrequent watering is the best practice. During the hotter months of the year, the lawn will require more water, so that may mean ¾ of irrigation at a time rather than the ½ of irrigation typically required in the cooler months. This means wetting the soil to a depth of 4-6 inches per irrigation.
- Water at times of low wind.
- Water during the very early morning rather than in the afternoon or evening to minimize risk for disease.
- To reduce water runoff and to help water penetrate and soak deeply into the soil, we recommend Cycle and Soak watering schedule. Instead of watering for a long period of time and allowing the water to runoff into the street, divide the total watering time per zone by 3. Water 3 shorter intervals . For example at 3am, 4am, and 5am, before winds pick up. Each cycle, water for 15 minutes for rotor heads, 8 minutes for stationary pop-ups, and 30 minutes for low volume MP Rotator heads. Water less in shaded or poorly drained areas.
- Do not water every day or two. Frequent, short watering encourages shallow roots, unhealthy grass, plants, and leaves turf susceptible to drought, weeds, and disease.
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Watering Lawn In Fall
- Continue watering your lawn about 2 to 3 times a week while temperatures are between 70 and 80 degrees .
- When temperatures start to fall below 70 degrees, water 1 or 2 times a week .
- Once the weather turns cold enough, you can stop watering because the lawn will start to go dormant.
- Keep your water on until the forecast warns of below-freezing temperatures.
- Turn off your watering system right before temperatures reach freezing.
Install Drip Lines And Rain Gauge
To ensure your entire yard is getting enough water, install drip irrigation lines for trees, shrubs and gardens, and install a rain gauge.
Drip irrigation is a great way to ensure smaller plants still receive deep watering without the risk of being overwatered by a sprinkler.
Likewise, a rain gauge will tell how much water the yard is receiving from rain and may even help you save on your water bill!
Remember to apply IFA 4-Step Fertilizer to give your grass the nutrients it needs and to mow regularly enough to keep grass blades at roughly three inches in length. As always, stop by your local IFA Country Store for more tips on how to grow a healthy lawn or to get help dealing with a troublesome lawn issue.
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Not Watering Long Enough
This goes hand in hand with not watering every day. If you do water every day but only for 15 mins each day, you may think spacing it out will get a consistent amount of water to your grass. Youre wrong. You should be watering less frequently. But you should be watering deeply. Look at that thermometer again. If you are looking at 70-80 degrees you want to get about a half an inch of water onto your lawn. Usually, that means about 15- 20 mins per station with pop up spray heads, and 30-40 mins per station for far shooting rotating pop up sprinklers. If the temp outside is 90-100+ youre looking to get 1/2 3/4. Try 25-35 mins per station with pop up spray heads and 40-60 mins per station for far shooting rotating pop up sprinklers. Your watering time may vary so make sure you are doing some research on how long you need to water to get the appropriate amount of water on your lawn.
Is It Better To Water In The Morning Or Evening
Morning Watering Best Watering early in the day provides the plants with moisture for vigorous growth during the day and prevents heat stress. In contrast, evening watering must contend with remaining soil heat from the day, but winds may be dying down, allowing sprinklers to spray where they should.
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How Often Should I Water My Lawn
The ideal amount of water your lawn needs changes from month to month. Generally, the recommendation is to deep water your lawn once every 3 or 4 days. In spring, the average lawn needs 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water. That equates to anywhere between 15 and 25 minutes of irrigation using a sprinkler system. As the weather increases and summer approaches, your lawn will need approximately 2 to 5 inches of water or 25 to 35 minutes of watering time. It is not advisable to water every day as this may drown the roots. Watering twice a week at longer intervals is the key to achieving deeper and stronger roots.
Watering During The Summer Months
Depending on where you live, you may not need to water your lawn during the spring. The soil beneath the grass is often saturated with water from snowmelt, and spring rain will provide even more water.
However, as temperatures rise in May and June, you should slowly start watering your lawn more thoroughly and more frequently.
Start with watering once a week for about twenty minutes at a time, applying roughly half an inch of water to the grass. As temperatures exceed 80 degrees, you may need to start watering every three days for thirty to forty minutes at a time, or one to two inches of water each time.
The most common turf species in Utah and the broader Intermountain West is Kentucky Bluegrass, which needs about two inches of water per week in the summer.
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How Can I Make My Brown Grass Green Fast
Its natural for grass to go dormant to conserve water during periods of limited rainfall, and drought-induced brown grass should turn green on its own as the weather cools and rainfall increases. You can also restore your lawn by giving it an inch of water on a weekly basis with your lawn sprinkler.
When Should I Turn Off My Sprinklers In Utah 2020
Whether you have a secondary system or a culinary system, October 1st is a good time to turn it off, said Joshua Palmer with the Utah Division of Water Resources. But why October 1st? The days are shorter, the nights are cooler, the plants and grasses will go into dormancy anyway really soon, Palmer said.
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The Ideal Time To Water Your Lawn
The best time to water your lawn is in the morning, preferably before 10 AM. If you do it during the heat of the day, its more likely that the water will evaporate before it can sink into the soil. This will encourage shallow roots theyll need to be near the surface to get any moisture. That means that when the heat of summer really comes on, your grass will turn brown and die.
Although it might be tempting, avoid watering at night. This could cause the grass to stay damp too long. A damp lawn encourages bacteria and fungus to grow that might damage or even kill your grass.
Does Watering In The Sun Burn Grass
Rather than settling on blades of grass as scorching magnifying glasses, water droplets evaporate quickly when the sun directly hits them and heat is high. To avoid this evaporation, water your lawn in the early morning. In other words, dont let the sun scare you from watering your lawn when its at its thirstiest.
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Tips To Keep Your Lawn Looking Great
Most lawns will benefit from a session or two of aeration. Aerating involves making small holes to alleviate soil that has become compacted. Less compaction means more air, water, and nutrients reach the grassroots. Furthermore, reseeding or over seeding your lawn reduces thinning grass and removes brown patches. Consequently, both aeration and over seeding encourage grass to keep more water.
When Watering A Warm
- Zoysia, St. Augustine, bermuda and centipede grasses develop deep root systems, making them better able to withstand drought.
- In general, warm-season grass types require less water than cool-season grasses. Where you live determines how frequently you need to water because of differences in rainfall and summer weather conditions. Grass requires the most water in conditions of heat, drought, low humidity, and high winds.The type of soil you have also plays a part: Clay soil holds water longer and can be watered less frequently than sandy soil, which drains very quickly .
There are tons of ways to water your lawn, from sprinklers to smart watering solutions. Each has their own sets of benefits, so choose the solution that works best for you and your lawn. Below are a few methods to consider.
Pulsating sprinklers : These shoot water horizontally at a high velocity so the water isnt affected by wind.
Hose-end sprinklers: Great for small- to medium-size lawns. There are many different types, so you can choose the one that fits your lawn best.
In-ground sprinklers: These can deliver water in the most efficient pattern. Choose sprinklers that are low to the ground and use a horizontal spray pattern for best results.
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What Do You Do After You Aerate Your Lawn
What to Do After Aerating Your Lawn Leave the soil plugs on the lawn to decompose and filter back into the holes left by the aeration machine. Apply fertilizer immediately after aerating your lawn to put nutrients into your grass roots. Reseed your lawn, especially in areas of the lawn where the grass is thin.
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Regular Lawn Maintenance Is Key
The best time to ready the yard and help prepare the lawn for the growing season is spring. Essentially, spring lawn care is about removing weeds and fertilizing the soil. A good fertilizer does wonders for the soil and helps to increase root mass. Likewise, weeds can steal nutrients and water from the grassroots and so will need to be removed. Removing weeds may be done by hand, a weeding tool, or by the use of herbicides.
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How To Tell If Your Lawn Has Been Watered Enough
There are some simple tricks that will determine if a lawn is receiving enough water. First, does it look healthy? If it looks healthy, then it probably is which means stick to what you are doing. Another way to determine if your lawn needs to be watered is to submerge a screwdriver into the grass. If it easily sinks 6 to 7 inches, then your lawn is receiving an adequate amount of water each week. If not, it is probably time to make a change to your watering routine.
Be ready for changing weather and be aware of when a lawn needs more feeding and fertilizing. Give lawns an organic fertilizer and compost in fall and spring and cut back on watering when dry days turn to rainy ones.
If you see mushrooms growing in your grass, it is most likely due to overwatering. The best next step is to decrease the amount of watering until the mushrooms are gone.
Best Time Of Day To Water Your Lawn
The best time to water your lawn is before 10 a.m., preferably between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. At this cool time of day, its less likely the moisture will evaporate before your grassroots can absorb it from the soil.
If you cant water before 10 a.m., dont make the mistake of watering late at night. It may be cool then, but if the moisture sits on your grass overnight, it can make your lawn more prone to disease. The second-best time to water is between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
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What Time Of Day To Water
- Watering in the morning is best because the grass blades have time to dry.
- You can also water in the early evening as long as the grass has a chance to dry before temperatures cool down.
- Dont water at night because the grass blades will stay wet for longer, making the lawn more susceptible to fungal infections .
- Dont water in the afternoon on hot days because most of the water will evaporate before it can reach the roots.
Check out our video for more watering tips from our lawn specialist:
Not Using The Seasonal Adjustment On Your Timer
You may or may not have a seasonal adjustment on your sprinkler timer. If you do, GREAT! The seasonal adjustment setting is the easiest way to adjust watering time as the weather gets hotter and cooler. Set your station watering times to correspond with 75° weather. As it gets hotter increase the seasonal percentage to 120 or 130%. As it gets colder set it to 70 or 80%.
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Best Watering Practices In Cache Valley
Jun 11, 2019 | lawn care, summer
Thanks to the unusually wet spring Cache Valleys had this year, you probably havent needed to turn on your sprinklers yet. Thats good, because it means that, if youve been careful about your water usage, we should have plenty stored up for summer use. Utah is the second driest state in the country, so water conservation is important if we want to get through the dry months.
But so is keeping your lawn healthy, right? Well, here are some things to consider about watering.
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When Should I Run My Sprinklers
The ideal time to water, therefore, is early in the morning between 4 am and 8 am. Your lawn will have time to absorb the moisture deep down to promote root growth, but will not be too damp by dark that it encourages fungus and other problems. The number of hours of continuous wetness should be kept to a minimum.
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Utahns Should Wait As Long As Possible To Run The Sprinklers Officials Say
Water runs in an irrigation ditch in Hooper, Weber County, on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Nearly all of Utah is in severe drought and water managers dont believe half full reservoirs will fill this year. Still, people are turning on their sprinklers to liven up lawns.
Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Nearly all of Utah is in severe drought and water managers dont believe half full reservoirs will fill this year.
The irrigation season has been shortened, farmers in parts of northern Utah are taking extreme reductions in how much water they receive and even culinary water supplies face a shortfall.
Still, people are turning on their sprinklers to liven up lawns.
There are only five counties in the state where we have irrigation recommendations, said Kim Wells, public information officer for the Utah Department of Natural Resources.
The state, through a special website, offers a weekly lawn watering guide to advise residents on when watering should happen, and to what extent.
Wells says the guide is derived from multiple data points, including soil conditions, temperatures and the weather forecast.
The longer we can wait to water, the better off we will be and the longer we can stretch the water supply, Wells said.
North Salt Lake will consider in May a tiered rate structure for both its culinary and secondary watering systems.
A splash park in Riverdale, Weber County, sits vacant and dry on Tuesday, April 26, 2022.
Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Best Time To Water By Month
Watering your lawn changes with each month in the summer. For example, early summer still sees temps in the 80s, but by the middle of August, temps can reach upwards of 100 degrees. This drastic increase in temps makes it necessary to water your lawn more often. Watering a lawn every day for 10 to 15 minutes isnt going to cut it in the hot summer months. Your lawns root system needs to grow at least three to four inches deep to remain healthy for summer.
It also depends on your soil since that has a big impact on watering. For instance, if you have clay soil, you will need to water less than if you have sandy soil since one particle of sand is around 500 times larger than an ounce cup of sand, hence the more surface area a soil has, the more water clings to it this decreases drainage and increasing the ability of water holding. Here is a month-by-month water guide for June, July, and August.
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