Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobcuse
After 13 years here in TV, I finally found a watering schedule (used by many many residents) that keeps my zoysia lawn green and uses less water than any of my prior schedules of 2 times per week or 3 times per week during near drought conditions (like now). It relies on the theory that a little water daily keeps the roots from drying out. To avoid using more water than you currently use, take your minutes per zone currently times 2 (allowed watering times per week) and divide by 7 (days per week). The resulting number is your minutes per day of watering per zone. Eg; If I am watering 35 minutes per zone twice a week = 70 total minutes per zone per week divided by 7 = 10 min per zone daily. I didn't believe this would work because landscaping guys and fertilizer guys always said to water 35-45 min per zone because the roots are so deep. I tried it and my lawn stays green everyday. I then played with it and found I could reduced the minutes for different zones and the lawn still stays green. I still get stress areas but they are much smaller than before and my water consumption is lower than comparative months in prior years. The water police would think I am abusing the system but I am actually using less water and have a healthier lawn. Kinda like healthier people eat smaller meals more frequently maybe :-)
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Not trying to argue the point. I am not a 'grass guy'. I find what you are doing interesting and am glad it is working. The only point of my post is for discussion. Your technique goes against everything I have ever read about watering Zoysia grass.
Here is just one article of many:
Gardening Help FAQs
From the article:
Zoysia grass is relatively drought tolerant and does not need frequent watering. Frequent light watering can cause shallow roots, build up of thatch, and increased susceptibility to insects and disease.
To avoid the pitfalls of frequent light watering, it’s much better to water your zoysia lawn thoroughly once per week or every other week rather than several times per week. Each watering should penetrate the soil to a depth of 6-8 inches.
Their goal may not be green color, it may be to be as healthy as possible? Just learning as I go like many here...
I believe some issues in my lawn are caused by mowing equipment being too big for such a small area. I need to move to hand mowing, just have not made the commitment yet. I have had my 'lawn mower guy' since 2007 and hate to break up as he is a nice young man and I have no direct evidence it will be better when I hand mow
