Summer Heat Sizzling Our Lawns.

We work so hard caring for our summer landscapes, yet , in our present drought and heat conditions, many of our lawns are browning, thinning, drying near the edges, and have brown patches. More often than not these symptoms from watering incorrectly.

Nassau County restrictions on watering every other day have become a mantra for watering practices. Present re-strictions state you can only water on odd days for house with and odd number and vice versa for homes with an even number. These regulations were put into place for water conservation, not as a guide on how to water your lawn,yet they have been interpreted to mean water every other day. If you have an irrigation system, resetting the timer takes a short time, and the savings in the health of your grass, your health and aggravation are enormous.

The right way to water is to water, if using an automatic timer, would be every four days. That way you could maintain either all odd days or all even days. You should turn it off if there is enough rainfall. When irrigating without a set timer you can irrigate every 3 to 5 days. The aim is to put down 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week. This allows water to penetrate to a depth of 6 inches. Deep longer watering encourages deep rooting so lawns can handle the stress of our hot summers. Short spurts of water every day or every other day is ineffective. For lawns to survive stressful conditions, they need a strong deep root system. They can not survive on a pitiful root system in 90 degree weather.

It is simple to calculate how long to water to put out an inch of water. Put out a few coffee cans under the sprinkler or irrigation heads, mark off an inch, and see how long it takes to fill to 1 inch. It should take several hours to accumulate an inch of water in the cans. If you are getting an inch of water in an hour or less, your system is putting out water too fast. The result is your lawn does not get the full benefit of the water. The thatch and soil can not absorb water that quickly, and it just runs off.

Stressed lawns get disease and insect problems. Please do not just put down chemicals when your lawn is not thriv-ing, it may be an environmental problem such as irrigation or compacted soil. Have it diagnosed before you treat. Bring samples to your local Cornell Cooperative Extension. 516-228-0426 x 15