April 19, 2005 Weekly Water Saving Tip

As the temperatures continue to warm up, water conservation becomes more important to us. Some cities have adopted a time-of-day watering restriction where landscapes can not be irrigated during the heat of the day. The reason behind this is that you eliminate the loss of water due to evaporation during the hottest part of the day, thereby conserving water. Now, we should all be doing this anyway, but you may want to check with your city and see if any such ordinance is in place.

You should be watering turf now about every 5-7 days. Now this is a guideline, so after irrigating wait five days and start checking your soil to see if irrigation is needed. Please still manually turn the irrigation system on. Water can be saved if we irrigate when the turf needs it and not when the clock dictates it. Also, after irrigation, make sure that moisture is down into the root zone of your turf. If it isn’t, then increase you irrigation time, if moisture is far beyond the root zone, then, decrease your time. For more information on proper irrigation, you can go to the state’s water conservation website at www.conservewater.utah.gov or you can call me.

If your flower beds and vegetable gardens are established, put some mulch down around them to help conserve water. Then when you do irrigate make sure that it is getting water down 12-18 inches around that shrub. Trees should be watered deeper and can go for even longer intervals between irrigations, about every 10-14 days.

It is also time to fertilize all your plants. Your turf should be lightly fertilized with a nitrogen fertilizer. Use no more than ½ to ¾ pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet for each fertilization. It is important that you fertilize half the amount in one direction and the other half at a 90 degree angel. This will stop streaking of the lawn. Flowering bulbs will need to be fertilized after the blooming cycle is over.

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