Lawn area that doesn’t retain moisture

8 years ago

I have one lawn area that is in full sun western exposure that struggled this summer more than other parts of the yard. The area was newly hydroseeded from scratch by the PO in the fall of 2016 and we bought the house in December of that year. Summer 2017 a lot of the front yard dried out and the grass was thin, even though we ran the irrigation system 20 minutes every other day.

Our yard guy was supposed to arrange to have it all reseeded in the fall and he screwed around and didn’t do it until November. It didn’t grow, and had to be seeded again in the spring, so crabgrass. Lots of it. It was horrible. We finally got rid of it, and had the area aerated and overseeded recently and the new grass is coming in, but there are areas that dry out almost immediately after running the sprinklers. They don’t seem to want to absorb and hold water. It doesn’t run off, it just dries out fast.

The areas seem compacted and full of dead grass, it doesn’t look like they did a great job of aerating, and it doesn’t stay moist after watering or raining the way other parts of the lawn do. Soil in general is sandy loam, in some areas has a fair amount of OM, this area I feel probably does not.

I’m thinking I need to maybe topdress with some topsoil or compost? Fire the mow-blow-go guys with their low decks and leaf catchers and go back to doing it myself with my high setting and mulching blade? I thought I was treating myself with the mow guys when I retired. DH works a lot and doesn’t want to spend his weekends doing yard work. Should I spray the lawn with baby shampoo, or is that an old wives tale? TIA for any advice.

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Comments (3)

dchall_san_antonio
8 years ago
Yes, baby shampoo. It's not that old a wives tale either. I started using baby shampoo when all the dish washing soaps turned into antibacterial or anti microbial. Baby shampoo is a relatively uncomplicated concept for people and it is readily available everywhere. Any clear shampoo without conditioners is fine. Get what you can find in a choice of fragrances for $1 at Dollar Tree. The antimicrobials are the antithesis of what we're after with the soaps. The idea is to reduce the surface tension of the water to allow it to go deeper into the soil. The deeper moisture stays longer as the soil temp is cooler deeper down and you get less evaporation. Then the roots will go down deeper looking for the deeper moisture. Also the cooler and continually moist environment in the deeper soil is perfect for breeding the beneficial fungi which soften the soil naturally and should help to retain the moisture. Is it worth fifty cents to give baby shampoo a try? Follow it up with deep watering as described below.

Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for lawn watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch 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 in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, 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.
Saypoint zone 6 CT thanked dchall_san_antonio
Saypoint zone 6 CT
Original Author
8 years ago
Just got done shampooing the front lawn. Supposed to rain tomorrow.
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dchall_san_antonio
7 years ago
Perfect
Saypoint zone 6 CT thanked dchall_san_antonio