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Originally Posted by menthol01
Thank you to all that responded. I appreciate the feed back!
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People do not follow the rules but
You have two days when you can water. If, you look at your parcel of land, you have low spots-streams- on either side to allow water to drain off and into the sewer system.
If, your water day is tues, your neighbors would be weds so that you are both not watering on the same day and creating an overly wet area in those drainage streams. When, you and your neighbor keep that area wet you will get fungus.
The cooperative extension seems to be changing their recommendation from 1/2 now to 3/4 of an inch. I agree with the poster who suggested putting out shallow dishes and see how much water is in fact being delivered to each area of your lawn. Different heads put out different amounts of water. Surely there are parts of your lawn that get less water than other parts.
You can also remove a core sample from your lawn-easy with a post hole digger or a bulb planter. Don't worry, you will be putting it back. What you will see is how deep your grass roots are going. It should be about 8 inches. If it is shallower than that, you are watering too often. Your grass has no need to go deep in search of water-so on a hot day it will quickly wither. Also, most if not all of us have sod. When, you remove that core sample, you will find about 1/2 an inch of rich organic soil that the sod farm grows his grass on and then the poor sandy clay that we were left to try and grow a lawn on. You can actually grow a nice lawn on 1/2 and inch of soil if you are willing to water it every day, sometimes twice a day, fertilize it often etc.
It is a balancing act. The more fertilizer you apply, the more you need to mow, the more water you need to apply AND THE MORE LIKELY YOU ARE TO HAVE FUNGUS AND INSECT PROBLEMS.
If, you are not aware first of all we have a different water supplier in the south section of the villages than in the north and we pay more for water in the south. If, you look at your water bill you will find as you use more the price per gallon goes up. Also, if you have a large lawn, you are on the same rate schedule as people with a small lawn; such as a villa. Smart, according to me is to improve your soil with organic matter so that it holds more water and fertilizer-thus, you can have a better lawn at less cost and less environmental damage.