March 29, 2004 Weekly Water Saving Tip

Weekly Water Saving Tip #13

March 29, 2004

Now is the time to watch your lawn and plants for water needs. If you lawn needs water, water down to the root zone. An inch of water is usually what is needed to do this. If you don’t know how long it takes for your system to put down this amount of water, check out the state’s conservation website at www.conservewater.utah.gov. You will find some great information there. For a healthier lawn, and a lawn that will tolerate our high temperature summers, your irrigations need to be deep, and less frequent. During irrigations, watch and make sure you don’t have run off. To prevent runoff, cycle the irrigation time. This means turning off the system when you see runoff, waiting for about an hour then repeating this cycle until the complete irrigation need has been met. The objective is to get the water down as fast as the soil can absorb it. Then after irrigation, turn off the sprinkler system’s clock, and water only as needed. The next watering should not occur until the soil’s surface is dried down 2-3 inches. As a guideline start checking  around 7 to 10 days. Use a soil probe or a screw driver to check. The goal of irrigation is to maintain an acceptable appearance in the landscape, not to maximize yield. So let’s not treat our lawns as a crop to be harvested.

As your plants begin to grow and the seeds you planted begin to emerge, it is time to put mulch down around them. This will help to moderate the soil temperatures and conserve water. A mulched garden uses less than 40-60% water than a non-mulched garden. Mulches of straw, sawdust or compost are best. Lawn clippings do not work well, as they have a tendency to settle and will actually stop water from moving in. They also start to mold and will many times serve as a source of disease for your garden. Make sure the mulch you use allows the moisture to move in along with the needed air and is not full of salts or any other substances that will damage your plants. It is important that you add nitrogen to the mulch to stop any tie up of nitrogen. The lack of this nutrient results in yellow plants. The ideal mulch is one with a mixture of all sizes from the large down to the very small. This mulch will not move with the wind or water like the mulches that have been screened to the uniform small size. This ideal mulch will also take longer to break down and will have a much longer lasting effect in the changing of a poor soil to one that is desirable.

The Weekly Water Saving is provided to Washington County Water Conservancy District by Dr. Frank Williams of the BYU Horticulture Department. For more information, call Julie Breckenridge at 673-3617.