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kaylen_bartoshewski

Deep Watering Questions

8 years ago
So I have been reading dchall's mantra on deep watering over and over but I would love some help on actually implementing it.

First question, the temperature ranges are we talking mean or max?

Second and most important question, how the heck do I stay on top of this. If the weather has been over 30C for the week it's obvious, I need to throw down an inch of water each week it's that hot.

But what if there are fluctuations, are we looking back at the temperatures to determine if we water today? Eg. say hypothetically last week temperatures were around 25 degrees (I would be watering 1" every 2 weeks) but this week the upcoming forecast looks like it will be 30 degrees a few days, what do I do?

More examples the better! Thank you for helping me understand this better after I overcomplicated it.

Comment (1)

  • 8 years ago

    For non metric readers, here's what Kaylen is reading. I wrote it for the Aussies who frequented this forum several years ago.

    Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 3 cm all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps from 33-38 deep water once per week. With temps from 25-32 deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps from 21-24 deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 21, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. In the USA this deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont (for Oz think Hobart to Darwin including Alice Springs), so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.

    With that in mind, Kaylon, don't overthink this. Just start. Use the temperatures as a guideline to get you going. Then keep an eye on the grass. If you are going from frequent watering to infrequent watering, it is best to start with deep and watch the grass. If you normally watered every day, then the roots will be short and need water soon after as the surface dries out. But give the roots a chance to grow down deeper and this method works much, much better. You will find there are nutrients down deep that the shorter roots could not reach. I believe there is also a symbiotic relationship between the roots and the beneficial fungi in the soil that help feed the grass plants and bring water from deeper. Once you get this going it just gets better.