Our weather is glorious; a season reflected in a well-maintained lawn. This is the time of year for mowing and growing, using best practices of adjusting our mowing height to minimize stress on the lawn, fertilizing for a spring wake-up and strategically scheduling lawn irrigation. I’m always thinking ahead regarding conservation methods in my landscape, and I offer a few resources and tips to conserve this precious resource.
Estimating Water Application Rate
Image Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications
The challenge we face calculating an appropriate watering rate is specific to the site itself, the grass species that make up our lawn, as well as fluctuating environmental conditions. There is a resource offered by BVWaterSmart (bvwatersmart.tamu.edu), an educational partnership between Texas A&M University, Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District, cities of College Station, Bryan and the Wickson Creek Special Utility District. BVWaterSmart offers interactive maps of the Bryan/College Station area displaying weekly water schedule recommendations based on rainfall and plant water needs. The program also provides links to irrigation tips, lawn care videos and assessment tools to guide neighbors toward best water conservation practices. You can fill out a form on their website to receive weekly watering recommendations via email and based on weather in your neighborhood. AgriLife Extension also offers an online application called Water My Yard (https://watermyyard.org), a science-based tool that helps take the guesswork out of when and how much to water. Advice offered is also calculated from real-time data collected from a network of local weather stations, rain gauges and plant biology. You can download an app to your mobile device for ease of use. Once at the website, you create a personalized account and set up your irrigation profile that includes the type of irrigation used such as oscillating, in-ground spray, or drip. Then based on your location, experts send customized weekly water application advice to your email or via text.
Visual Cues and Commonsense
It is always best to visually inspect your lawn for initial signs of water-related stress prior to automatically watering. A simple method for checking on water-related stress is to walk across your lawn and look for a reduced leaf bounce-back; grass leaves don’t immediately bounce-back and your steps leave an indention. Time to water on! Extension offers a general statement for watering: one to two times per week for a 1 to 2-inch total application during hot and dry weather. However, it is prudent to include technology and data with observable conditions to avoid overwatering.
Image Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications
Warm season grasses are focusing energy for growth in the cooler seasons of spring and fall. While they are not truly dormant in summer, performance and root growth is not as vigorous. Because of this kind of biological activity, fertilization for grasses should be applied once in the spring, and if needed once in the fall. A good rule of thumb for scheduling spring fertilizer application is an estimated 4 to 6 weeks after the last frost date, basically about the second time you have mowed your lawn. Like most plants, grass utilizes several available nutrients in the soil for growth, and nitrogen is the nutrient required in the highest quantity. Fertilizer application ratios are dependent on soil nutrient availability and my recommendation is to commit a soil test to determine if there are any potential nutrient deficiencies. Urban soil tests are administered for a small fee from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory in College Station. Forms can be found online: soiltesting.tamu.edu, or visit our Brazos County Extension office for forms. You will receive a report with recommended landscape application rates and based on said deficiencies. The general formula for annual application is 1-pound of the percentage of nitrogen in the product per 1,000 square feet. Example: a bag of fertilizer has a 21-0-0 ratio (21 percent nitrogen.) Divide 1-pound by 21-percent to apply 4.75 pounds of product per 1,000 square feet. Don’t forget to measure the square footage of your lawn to put advice into action. My last bit of advice is to avoid products containing a combination of herbicide and fertilizer. Pre-emergent herbicides and fertilizer should be applied individually and specifically to an identified lawn weed or nutrient deficiency. The best method of weed control is encouraging optimal lawn health with scheduled watering, maintaining appropriate mowing height and sensible fertilizer application.
There are excellent local water conservation programs supported by the City of College and managed by Water Resources Coordinator Jennifer Nations. Jennifer hosts a weekly program on KAMU-FM 90.9 called Waterfull Wednesdays airing at 7:42 am available on KAMUs website. You can also check out my live call-in garden show Garden Success airing weekly on Thursdays at 12 pm on the same radio station and chat about best gardening practices. Lawn on, my fellow Brazos County residents, and I’ll see you in the garden.
