Watering the lawn?
Question:I live in Chicago, I have a big, very big yard, how long do I have to water it , and how often
Thanks guys for your help.
Answers:
This is a question of what am I watering. All plants have a different need for water. If you have a tropical section it will obviously require more water than the catcus section or again fruit trees etc. So first you need to know what the various water needs are of the garden. Secondly what type of soil. Does water flow fast away due to high amount of sand or slow to drain with high clay base. Once you know this you can begin to answer the question.
Too much water will stunt growth plus promote sickness and diseases, you may even loose plants.
Next we need to look at how the water will be applied. If you are using a garden hand held hose, the least efficient way of watering a garden, you will spend along time going around and watering it, this may take hours, what a waste of water. If you have an irrigation spray system these should be installed to only run for 20 minutes on any areas of the garden or their output is too low in the first place and have not been designed/installed properly. If you use a drip irrigation system then it can be run for about 40 minutes on each section as the output of water is much lower per hour.
I will assume that you plan to water ussing the hose. So overtime test each plant you have or get knowledge about these plants by observing them and using the method of a pan, as stated earlier to collect water whilst watering to determine their individual needs. Note you will never be able to irrigate for large trees with hand held hose it is waste of water, the water will not get down onto their lower roots. If a large tree is suffering leave a drip on the tree for days instead of trying to drown it in a good half hour of standing there watering and drinking beer.
It is hard to give you exact figures but assuming that you have a good soil that is sandy loam no plant should need more to be watered more than twice a week in winter spring and three times in summer. Note again some extra special or sensitive plants may require more or less especially if you have alot of non indigenous, plants.
Stick a pan out there in the spray field and measure how long it takes to get an inch on average. An inch of water each week is enough. Early morning is best. Evening if you have to. Avoid windy day watering.
chicago in the house! LOL
they say t water after the sun goes down.. because when the sun comes up and your grass is wet then the sun will heat the water and fry your lawn. once a week with a good soak is best...a 15 in each area with a good sprinkler is good! then move it over to where the sprinkler cant reach and start again! good luck!
I've heard that you should water long enough for the water to really soak into the earth. That's probably at least two hours of watering. A superficial watering will not get down to the roots, and they will grow nearer the surface, undermining the stability of plantings.
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