Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

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kevreh
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Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by kevreh » September 28th, 2017, 8:14 am

I'm 15 days into my TTTF backyard reno and 80% of my yard looks good germination wise. The areas near the sprinkler heads aren't coming in as well. Could they be getting too much water? I'm going to water manually for a few days, but wanted to see if anyone else has had a similar problem.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by smast16 » September 28th, 2017, 8:28 am

I had a spot where the sprinklers overlapped and it often had some minor puddling. When i went to once a day watering these areas germinated decently enough. Not a full as some areas, but still some germination. This was with KBG.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by MorpheusPA » September 28th, 2017, 8:48 am

Puddling's bad, as noted, but near the sprinkler heads it's actually more likely to be underwatering! Heads don't water well close up, which is the price for having good range. Usually installation is at least head to head (spray from one head reaches all other heads in range, and so on), or even closer.

If it's wider than head to head, there can be a range of low watering near the heads.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by kevreh » September 28th, 2017, 9:33 am

The throw distance is pretty short, about 10-15'. The heads are adjusted so theres short and long distance spray. I'll check each one that its not too dry, but pretty sure its too much spray.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by Marinegrunt » September 28th, 2017, 9:43 am

I had the same issue but it was mainly just a 12" diameter directly under the sprinkler. Our soil is pretty hard so I get a lot of puddling. I had another larger area that stayed wet longer due to water flowing that way from the rest of the yard. I had slower germination there too. It didn't help that I also over watered.


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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by northeastlawn » September 29th, 2017, 5:10 pm

I also have an overlapping area, and I am not sure if it was over watering or the impact sprinklers disturbing the seed or poor drainage in that area. My lawn always drained really well, but the areas it doesn't, really stand out when the whole yard dead grass and peat moss. Then when the new lawn doesn't come think in that spot, I see all the minor puddling now.

I think I have enough grass that came up for it to spread in the area, but the way I setup the sprinklers I am not sure I could have avoided it, the other areas came out great because they got enough water this time. On my past over-seeds they were always patchy on the edges in the heat. Its tough to get everything perfect in the whole yard.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by kevreh » September 29th, 2017, 6:14 pm

^^^^ true. I wonder if I would have seen more even results with hose end sprinklers that spray in a fan pattern.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by Green » October 1st, 2017, 11:06 pm

I had a similar issue, and I think it was due to runoff from a head. I turned off that head, and added more seed and peat moss to the area. It has since filled in. I may turn that head back on tomorrow, but then may turn it off again. I don't want new grass rooting into the sprinkler head. Running it will prevent that.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by kevreh » October 2nd, 2017, 10:51 am

That's what I did this weekend. Added more seed and a little topsoil to those areas. Interesting that this morning I was checking the timer on the rainbird controller and noticed I had a 5am watering in there I missed somehow when setting up times right after I initially seeded. So I had it watering a few minutes (6) at 7am, noon, and 6pm. I effectively had a 4th time in there too. Oops.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by kevreh » October 15th, 2017, 11:00 pm

Just an update. Its' been such a warm fall. Temps in the 80s, and sometimes not below 70 at night. This probably doesnt help germination. For those corners with thinner grass I threw down some more seed and tilled it in a bit with a hand tiller. That should help.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by Green » October 15th, 2017, 11:07 pm

I beg to differ; I would think the warmer temps would actually help germination. The issue I can think of is that fungal disease might be more likely. But temps in the 80s are probably a good thing. A few states North of you, in CT, it's been mostly in the 60s-70s (which is also above average) with occasional low 80s this month, and 40s-60s at night...but the frost (30s) is coming in a couple of days. Germination has been slow at these temps.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by kevreh » October 15th, 2017, 11:20 pm

I thought tttf germinated best with temps in the 60s and 70s, could be wrong.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by Green » October 16th, 2017, 7:04 pm

I can only go by what I observe, kevreh. Germination has slowed a lot the past few weeks.

You may well be right...I don't remember the optimal germination temp range for TF. I would think it'd be a combination of daily average air temp as well as immediate soil surface temp that matters for germination.

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by kevreh » October 16th, 2017, 7:38 pm

Are you getting near freezing temps at night up there in CT?

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Re: Poor germination due to overwatering by sprinkler heads?

Post by Green » October 16th, 2017, 11:34 pm

kevreh wrote:
October 16th, 2017, 7:38 pm
Are you getting near freezing temps at night up there in CT?
Yes and no. We are supposed to go below 40 tonight, for the first time in my area. It's possible there could be a bit of frost...today is the average first frost date for the immediate area. The past two weeks (when germination has slowed down), the night low temps have been anywhere from 42-70. That's why I think it's the average of the day and night temp that really matter, rather than highs or lows.

Other parts of CT that are more inland and higher in elevation have been colder, especially at night, and already gotten frost. My area is neither the coldest nor warmest of the extremes for the state...it's usually about in the middle. They could hit near freezing in the Northwest hills tonight.

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