Watering in Urea & Time of Day

[SeanCapeCod]

Hi,

Looking for some advice. I have a small rust fungus problem in the front of my house in one area. I have been doing my urea apps in the mid afternoon at around 1pm and watering in after that. Do you think I could get away with dropping urea in the afternoon and then watering in at 6am the next day in order to get the grass the dry out by nighttime? My front yard gets a lot of morning sun and I think my urea apps with water might be making my small rust problem worse by not drying out by nighttime. I have also been watering each zone for 20 minutes. Is 20 mins too much?

Any thoughts would be great, and if you think I could get away with watering in urea the next morning with my irrigation system with all rotors.

Thanks!

[turf_toes]

Rust is an issue for underfertilized lawns. I don’t think the watering practice is causing your problem or making it worse.

Just feed it. Healthy, well fed grass will almost always outgrow rust. That’s been my experience. YMMV

[TimmyG]

Sean,

Yes, water early the next morning. Urea doesn't volatilize so quickly that it can't wait a day. While it is true that rust occurs on turf that is slow growing or underfed, like toward the end of summer, it is also more of an issue at moderate temperatures and where moisture persists for long periods, like from dew. So you are right in thinking that watering later in the day isn't doing you any favors.

I mentioned elsewhere that I'm dealing with a crazy amount of rust, and my lawn is anything but underfed and slow growing at the moment. But with the dew we get this time of year, the rust isn't going away any time soon.

Is 20 minutes too much? Only you know your irrigation system, but typically that isn't nearly enough. To water in urea, you're shooting for at least 0.25" of water if not 0.5". To get 0.25", I have to run my zones for at least an hour each.