Watering Tip #1:
Pull back a corner of the turf and push a screwdriver or
other sharp tool into the soil. It should push in easily
and have moisture along the first 7 to 10 cm. (3 or 4 inches),
or you need to apply more water.
Watering Tip #2:
Make absolutely certain that water is getting to all areas
of your new lawn, regardless of the type of sprinkling system
you use. Corners and edges are easily missed by many sprinklers
(if windy) and are particularly vulnerable to drying out
faster than the centre portion of your lawn. Also, areas
near buildings dry out faster because of reflected heat
and may require more water.
Watering Tip #3:
Runoff may occur on some soils and sloped areas before the
soil is adequately moist. To conserve water and ensure adequate
soak in, turn off the water when runoff begins, wait 30
minutes to an hour and restart the watering on the same
area. Repeating this start and stop process until correct
soil moisture is achieved.
For the next two weeks keep the below-turf soil surface
moist with daily (or more frequent) watering. Especially
hot, dry or windy periods will necessitate increased watering
amounts and frequency.
Watering Tip #4:
As the turf starts to establish its new roots into the soil,
it will be difficult, impossible and/or harmful to pull
back a corner to check beneath the turf (Watering Tip #1),
but you can still use a sharp tool to check moisture depth
by pushing it through the turf and into the soil.
Watering Tip #5:
Water as early in the morning as possible to take advantage
of the daily start of the grass's normal growing cycle,
usually lower wind speeds and considerably less of water
loss because of high temperature evaporation.
Watering Tip #6:
If the temperature approaches 37°C (100 F), or high
winds are constant for more than half of the day, reduce
the temperature of the turf surface by lightly sprinkling
the area. This sprinkling does not replace the need for
longer, deeper watering, which will become even more critical
during adverse weather conditions.
During the rest of the growing season most lawns will grow
very well with a maximum total of 2.5cm of water a week,
coming either from rain or applied water. This amount of
water, properly applied, is all that is required for the
health of the grass, providing it is applied evenly and
saturates the underlying soil to a depth of 10 to 15 cm
(4 to 6 inches).
Watering Tip #7:
Infrequent and deep watering is preferred to frequent and
shallow watering because the roots will only grow as deeply
as its most frequently available water supply. Deeply rooted
grass has a larger "soil-water bank" to draw moisture
from and this will help the grass survive drought and hot
weather that rapidly dries out the upper soil layer
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