watering

[zemog]

the best way to water is always when the grass needs it , not on any particular schedule, it starts to look a little dull then water. No 2 lawns are the same with watering needs. I only set specific water days because on many of my lawns no one is there so i have to just set the days where i know they will live. For the most part now that we are getting into the summer heat i will set rotors to water 45min to 1 hour per zone and pop ups between 15-30 depending on coverage once per week until the grass shows me otherwise then i will add a day.
I also have water restrictions in a few neighborhoods that have 2 days allowed.
One thing to try for any of you having trouble with the lawn not taking the water or have run off due to slopes or just wide open areas that stay hot is to water back to back, cut your times down some if you need to run a full cycle then immediately run another cycle, this forces the water down into the soil instead of just running off, its the same thing we do on the greens for hotspots , saturate the area, leave it for 30min to an hour and re soak, its usually good for the week after that.
I don't water st Augustine any different than Bermuda.

[bard]

You've always given great advice. Unfortunately many areas of the metroplex are restricted to one day every other week.

[zemog]

There are a few things to try , one is the back to back watering, you should have enough time to do it multiple times if it's like here , we have 3 , 4 hour time periods each day allowed . There is a product I am trying this year myself call hydretain it is marketed under the name water manager and it's sold at John Deere landscapes. Just google hydretain and it will explain how it works. I believe consumer cost is $85/ bag and covers 14,000 sq ft and is supposed to have a residual of 3 months

[lincolnboy]

with one day a week and over watering, i can see justifing watering one day a week. my grass is green and growing just fron last weeks rain. i just watered yesterday.

[zemog]

I agree . Most people water entirely to much in the spring/ early summer. I have one customer who's lake pump has been out all year thus no water except for the rain, I still fertilized it like normal ( I use liquid tho) and only one time did it get on the really dry side , then it rained and it's been good thru this week when he finally got a pump put in. I have watered my own lawn, which is a mix of Bermuda and st Augustine , a total of 5 times this year.

[zemog]

when the dry weather hits (which is what the above numbers are for) i try and water an inch per week and for most of my customers that's the numbers that fit, we have pretty crappy pressure for the most part around here so most sprinklers are nozzled down and it takes longer to get the water out.