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Want A Water
Conserving Lawn ?
You May
Already Have One
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The current extended drought, coupled with tighter
water quality standards for municipal water systems
by the government have forced many North Platte
River valley communities to consider at least the
possibility of future lawn and landscape watering
restrictions. This is not too surprising, because
study after study has shown that lawn watering
accounts for up to 50% of municipal water use during
the summer months. As a result a growing number of
Wyobraska homeowners have begun exploring ways to
reduce the amount of water used in keeping their
lawns and landscapes lush and green-or perhaps more
aptly stated, alive and healthy.
Some homeowners have appropriately looked at
alternative lawn grasses as a way to conserve water.
And recent experience with buffalo grass and blue
gramma has certainly made these two native prairie
grasses very viable options for "lawn grasses" in
the Wyobraska region. They have proven to be much
easier to establish than first thought, and
Wyobraskans seem to be warming (no pun intended) to
the aesthetic differences between these two
shortgrass prairie natives and the tradition bright
green Kentucky blue grass. None of the information
which follows should be interpreted to in anyway
discourage anyone from converting their lawn to one
of these two excellent options.
However, ongoing research continues to raise some
interesting questions about the subject of water
conservation and lawns. First, it turns out that
blue grass is actually one of the lowest water use
grasses-using about the same amount of water over
the course of a growing season as buffalo grass-and,
it appears, using less water than some of the "water
conserving" alternatives cited in newspapers and
magazines-most notably the turf-type fescues. Upon
closer examination, it seems, the reason that
blue-grass has a reputation as a heavy water user
has more to do with how it has been traditionally
watered and managed in a lawn setting than how much
water the plant actually uses.
So if you are environmentally conscious and want to
conserve water (or if you're just tired of having
such a high water bill) but still want to have a
nice green lawn, one approach is to keep your blue
grass lawn-but water and care for it properly. Here
are nine ways to convert your bluegrass lawn from
the water waster it has been to the water miser it
can be. How much water can you save? For the average
homeowner over 50%.Reduce the area of your lawn
to only the lawn area you need. |
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Water your lawn only as fast as your lawn can absorb
the water Wyobraska soils can generally absorb water
at rates that vary from .50 inches per hour to 1.50
inches per hour. Yet many widely used sprinkler
system heads water at the rate of 2 inches per hour.
When you see water running off a lawn and down the
street in the summertime, it is probably because the
irrigation system is putting on the water faster
than the soil can absorb it. The result is wasted
water. Today's electronic sprinkler system timers
offer a easy solution to this problem by allowing
these fast-watering heads to be run for brief
periods several times during one irrigation cycle.
This allows time for water to soak into the soil
rather than run off the lawn.
Water your lawn only as often as actually needed
Some Wyobraska homeowners water their lawns every
day. That's simply much more water than is necessary
to keep the lawn green and healthy, and if the water
is coming from a municipal supply, that wasted water
is adding to the water bill of everyone on city
water, not just the overwatering homeowner. With a
properly developed lawn, two, or at the most three,
waterings per week are all that is required to keep
the lawn green and healthy even in the hottest part
of the summer.
Improve the water holding capacity of your lawn's
soil Lawns can be watered more efficiently when the
soil in which they are growing can easily absorb
water, but also hold the water in the root zone of
the grass for it to use as needed. Aerating the lawn
frequently is the easiest and least expensive way to
improve the water holding capacity of your lawn's
soil. The deeper the aeration, the greater amount of
water your lawn will be able to hold in it's "tank"
thus reducing the frequency with which your lawn
will need to be watered.Increase the rooting
depth of your bluegrass lawn There is new research
which suggests that bluegrass is capable of growing
deeper roots than previously thought. With
traditional methods of care and irrigation, many
bluegrass lawns have root systems that are only 2 to
3 inches deep. The new research suggests that with
proper lawn care and irrigation, it is possible to
get those same roots to grow 8-12 inches deep. |
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Previous Articles
It's
Finally Spring - March 13
Spring Garden Calendar-March 20
No
Garden Left Behind-March 27
Planting Trees for a Cooler Earth in a Warmer
WyoBraska-April 3
Viburnums - Shrubs for Wyobraska Springs-April 10
Want A Water Conserving Lawn? You might already have
one-
April 17
C
2007 Articles
2006 Articles |
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While the research is clear
that bluegrass is one of the most water efficient
turfgrasses, the research is also quite consistent
that plantings of trees, shrubs, perennials and
ornamental grasses use about half the water of a
comparable area of lawn. So keep all of the lawn
area that you and your family actually need for
recreation and open space in your landscape, but
then convert the rest of the area to landscape beds,
paths, patios, or other low-water-use function.
Water your lawn evenly
Unfortunately many underground sprinkler systems
were installed when water supplies seemed to be
unlimited, so uniform water application was often
not considered when many sprinkler systems were
designed and installed. As a result many sprinkler
systems overwater in one area while underwatering in
another. The homeowner usually waters long enough so
that the underwatered area stays green, meaning that
the overwatered areas are wasting a lot of water. It
has been estimated that most communities could save
50% of the water used on lawns and landscapes simply
by watering properly. Based on my experience I agree
with that assessment and I estimate that half of
that savings would come from watering lawns
uniformly. |
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This additional root depth would dramatically
improve the lawn's "drought resistance" because it
would enable the lawn to pull water from a twelve
inch depth as opposed to the much shallower 2 to 3
inches. Aerating, proper fertilization, proper
mowing, and proper irrigation are all necessary to
enable the roots of bluegrass to grow to these
greater soil depths.
Mow your lawn higher (and less)
Many homeowners still mow their lawns shorter than
is necessary for optimal lawn health. To make your
bluegrass lawn a true water miser, mow in at the
highest setting on your mower. Higher mowing means
lower stress on the grass, less evaporation of
moisture from the soil directly into the air, and
less depletion of the root system to help the plant
recover from its weekly mowing.
Fertilize your lawn at the proper time of year and
at the proper rate Less fertilizer in the spring and
more fertilizer in the fall is the rule of thumb for
fertilizer a water conserving lawn. Fall
fertilization helps grass grow roots, spring
fertilization can deplete roots in order to help the
plant grow blades - blades of grass which you then
have to mow. Two pounds of nitrogen per thousand
square feet of lawn per year is all that is required
for a water conserving blue grass lawn-provided you
use a mulching mower.
Use a mulching mower
Nature recycles all of its plant debris, so should
we. The grass clippings break down quickly when they
contact the soil-becoming slow release
fertilizer-but as they break down they also serve as
a thin layer of mulch-and it's all free.
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