ZUKEYPR
Registered User
- Location
- 651.78 miles East of the Rubicon
So is the subject line for real or just hype?
I've done the 1.5 to 2" and my grass yellowed out within the month. I've dug up portions of my yard to see the root depth in a few different areas and the yellowed spots all have deep roots.
I've measured the output of the sprinklers and adjusted the duration to get about 2" and my grass got really spotty (e.g., yellow patches and green patches). I'm back to trying every 2-3 days and it's coming back, slowly.
Most of my lawn is direct sunlight. If I go 2" twice a week, the day before the late evening watering, I've got cracks in my soil in certain areas.
It really frustrates me because when I bought the house it had the lushest, greenest grass. I know the PO's son and he doesn't remember the watering times/amounts.
Grass appearance depends on a ton of factors, Soil type, fertilizer, amount of water, frequency, bugs, shade, variety of grass, etc. If I put 2" of water on my lawn at once, 1.5" of the water would be running down the street. My soil/slope just won't support 2" at a time.
Some things I've discovered:
1. lawn fertilizer outfits come out every month. Some people don't want to do this, but if you aren't willing to put down fertilizer/weed control every month you probably aren't going to have a lawn that looks like what they do.
2. If you are running a sprinkler and the water is running down the street, it isn't helping your lawn. Try breaking up watering duration, try running multiple times, if you want an inch of water on the lawn and after 10 minutes it's running down the street and you only got a 1/2" down stop watering and give it an hour or 2 then start watering again.
3. Sprinklers overlap, miss areas, use a hose for the dry/brown areas. A trickle out of the hose over several hours works great for the areas that don't absorb water.
If you decide you want to put down seed, wait until the fall just before the lawn goes dormant. I put half my lawn in one spring and the rest in the fall and the following year the fall planted grass came back much better and looked a lot healthier than the side that had been there longer.