Water restrictions
 

Are you aware of any restrictions on watering the lawn? Neighbor told me only twice a week. Can't find any info. I'm in Sumter county

Lawn watering is limited to twice per week.
Thanks for sending me the following:
(Thought I'd share with you)
Lawn watering days and times are as follows unless your city or county has a different schedule or stricter hours in effect.
Even addresses may water on Thursday and/or Sunday before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m.
Odd addresses may water on Wednesday and/or Saturday before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m.
Hand watering and micro-irrigation of plants (other than lawns) can be done on any day and at any time.

Interesting since Deans just told me to go to 3 times per week, also in sumter county.....

Just a question as I don't know. Is there anyone who inforces the watering rules?

The "Water Police" :police:

Geez, I am really out of step. I water on Tuesday and Friday and have an even number! :shocked:

Two days is correct. A watering schedule should be just inside the door of your irrigation controls. It shows you the approved times and which two days to water based on your location. You should also find the watering zones identified by number, and indicating the location for each zone of your lawn. This information is easily accessible by simply opening the door of the panel.

You are correct, I also went to the sumter county website, and found the exact details on when I should be watering, but it is interesting that the company I am using to do my lawn work "suggested" I go to 3 times per week......

I don't think it would be to much of a strech to suggest these guidelines are followed to closely...

Given the dry conditions and the early heat we've experienced, most lawn companies are recommending at least three times a week. However, the water company has decreed that two times a week is the max and if you use more, your bill will quickly skyrocket. The reclamation ponds do not have an infinite amount of water in them and Florida has just gotten out of a drought situation. As has been mentioned, you can always hand water (your outdoor spigots are linked to the house water, not the reclaimed water, of which there is more water). Of course, those in the northern part of TV are not quite so limited since they don't use reclaimed water.

I just changed from two to three days per week. My OCD can't handle a lawn not uniformly green or brown, I decided to go green. [emoji106]🏻

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 :-)

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 :shrug:

If we have watering restrictions and are worried about over drafting the retention ponds and water table, why is the county and water district still allowing thousands of new building permits?

Does anyone know how many inches of surface water it takes to penetrate soil 6 to 8 inches? I don't.