Water habits during Summer heat waves

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Richardgrasser
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Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by Richardgrasser » August 20th, 2020, 10:09 pm

What’s everyone doing during the summer heat waves to keep the lawn watered sufficiently? I’m in Northern California and it’s been at or over 100 for a while now. I added a third watering day to help. I have a smart irrigation controller that I’m constantly fighting. I also supplemented with hose watering a dry spot but now mushrooms are growing.

Seems like I can’t win. What are you all doing?

DeepC
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by DeepC » August 20th, 2020, 11:17 pm

I'm in Texas with 100 degrees everyday too. 1 inch a week isn't cutting it...

bpgreen
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by bpgreen » August 21st, 2020, 12:14 am

The controller for my sprinkler system broke. It's been one of the hottest summers I remember. Last measurable precipitation was 6/29. I've hand watered a few spots, but big chunks of my lawn are dormant.

I suspect some of it won't come back. I'll dormant seed blue grama in those spots.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by MorpheusPA » August 21st, 2020, 7:07 am

Ignoring it. Eastern Pennsylvania here, where we had a steamer of a late June and July and almost no rain.

August was better and temperatures are now cooling toward fall. The lawn came back just fine, although in some sections, I was starting to wonder a little bit. The dormant sections are down to hand-spans in a few locations and a chunk by the driveway that probably hit 125 a few times and needs more reassurance that this will not happen again this year.

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andy10917
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by andy10917 » August 21st, 2020, 7:19 am

Richard, back to what you are doing - you indicated 3X irrigation, but didn't post the length of time per irrigation cycle. How long are you watering when you run a cycle?


Richardgrasser
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by Richardgrasser » August 21st, 2020, 5:59 pm

Hi Andy,

I’m currently at 18mins per cycle and I’m watering at 4:30am. The cat food can test tells me I’m at or slightly over 1” actual per cycle. I have the hunter x core with sensor and it automatically adjusts the duration on its own. I’m theoretically dropping 3” per week right now and the grass is actually staring to grow back.

Prior to the heat wave I was at 2x per week dropping 0.5” each cycle.

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andy10917
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by andy10917 » August 21st, 2020, 6:37 pm

OK, if you say that the cat food cans indicate 1" of water in 18 mins, I'll take you at your word. I'm surprised though - I don't think many soils would be able to absorb an inch of water in 18 minutes without puddling. Or maybe that's the issue - a very sandy soil would take that amount of water OK, but not hold onto it for long.

Richardgrasser
Posts: 19
Joined: June 21st, 2020, 9:28 pm
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by Richardgrasser » August 21st, 2020, 8:03 pm

I’ve noticed when my neighbors water they get major runoff. The base soil is similar to clay. I can even tell when some of the neighbors up the street over water as it drains down to the gutter. Not my lawn though. I have attributed it so far to the 3” of 70/30 we laid prior to the sod. I only get run off when I dump the kids pool out and even then it’s minimal . I will continue to run more cat food tests though to confirm.

I’m also starting to realize I’m not getting even watering which is causing my brown spot. That spot only gets 1/8” in the same duration. I’m chasing this issue as well.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » August 23rd, 2020, 5:32 pm

You do realize the cat food can needs to be empty, right? :rotfl:
If you have a spot that gets 1/8-inch in 18 minutes, then you need to water 8x longer than 18 minutes. You could try adjusting or changing sprinkler heads to get better coverage. You'll have to do the can test again once you finish the adjustments.

I have watered a few times this summer. Discounting the rainfall, I'd say my back yard goes 10 days before needing water again after I water it. The front is on the north side and has some trees, so it easily goes 2 weeks or more (20 days). Recently we've seen more arid days which dry the soil faster. I think these two hurricanes are going to fizzle out as far as my part of Texas goes. Good luck to all of you in the paths.

Richard, would you mind changing your location in your profile? The reason it is there is so we don't have to ask every time where you live. It would be much more helpful to know your town/city rather than the amorphous region of Northern California. For one thing, most people look at the map and assume Northern California is somewhere between Redding and Eureka. Having lived in CA I know you're more likely to be in Sacramento. It makes a huge difference how we advise you.

Having said that, if you do actually live north of Redding, then your grass choice of fescue and bluegrass might be appropriate. Or if you live in the mountains behind Sac'to, those should work. But if you do live in the Sac'to lowlands area, then you really should consider changing to a hybrid bermuda (like TIF 419), UC Verde buffalo, or St Augustine. Those are warm season grasses and need much less water to survive than trying to make either fescue or bluegrass survive the desert-like heat. None of those grasses are as aggressive as common bermuda, everyone's favorite weed.

Richardgrasser
Posts: 19
Joined: June 21st, 2020, 9:28 pm
Location: Roseville, CA
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by Richardgrasser » August 23rd, 2020, 10:48 pm

Dchall,

my dog ensured the cat food Can was licked clean prior to use. I cleaned out the filter screens on a few sprinklers over the weekend and I’m hoping this helps but I haven’t yet remeasured. Definitely had some debris in there. But I still think I’m going to have to add sprinklers based on current spacing.

Good point regarding my location. I’m on the valley floor. My plan is to overseed next month with a high quality cultivar. I’m not ready to nuke the yard yet, perhaps next year if I don’t get results. If I do I will look into the hybrid you suggested, I’ve never heard it this before.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » August 26th, 2020, 3:00 pm

Thanks for Roseville. That's much more informative for us.

Yes, in Roseville warm season grass would be preferred to fescue or bluegrass. UC Verde will seem expensive, but it's a one time investment. If you can find a local garden center that has it, ask them if they can direct you to installations so you can see it for yourself. Grass plugs as seen in the nursery do not do justice to mature installations. Buffalo grass is fine bladed like the northern grasses, but the color might be a touch less deep green. You really need to see it in action. UC Verde was developed at UC Davis and UC Riverside to perform extremely well in a homeowner situation. One of the beauties of their variety is that it does not get the traditional seed heads and flowers that wild buffalo and all the other hybrids get. Here's a picture of a now defunct variety of buffalo from Texas.
Image

This variety was very popular because the seed stalks grew at the same speed as the grass, so it didn't get that shaggy appearance after a few days. Wild buffalo looks shaggy almost immediately after mowing. However, the UC Verde variety has almost no seed stalks or flowers. I would love to have it someday.

Here is another picture showing the same variety. Pic was taken right after it had been mowed at 1/2-inch high.

Image

Now here is a picture of the downside to buffalo grasses.

Image
That one shows the west side base of a brick mailbox. Even though the grass got full sun for half a day, that was not enough and the grass thinned way out.

Richardgrasser
Posts: 19
Joined: June 21st, 2020, 9:28 pm
Location: Roseville, CA
Grass Type: Fescue/Bluegrass
Lawn Size: < 1000
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Re: Water habits during Summer heat waves

Post by Richardgrasser » August 30th, 2020, 6:49 pm

Very interesting. I have a small yard so the expenses would not be outrageous. I’m going to keep this bookmarked in case I do a future Reno.

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