I heard an interesting and somewhat shocking interview on my local NPR station. It blew away almost everything I thought I knew about watering my lawn. Searching for the information I heard later lead me to an article by the same research team at MSU. Below are some of their findings on the best way to irrigate lawns. A lot of it is against the conventional wisdom. No doubt this is the first time science has ever disproven conventional wisdom.
Here are some interesting out-takes:
- "Generally, lawn turf requires 0.5 to 1.5 inches of water per week"
- "That corresponds to 0.1 to 0.2 inch of water [daily]"
- "Light, frequent applications of water are much more productive than heavy applications once a week."
- "The best time of day for watering is early afternoon just before the highest temperature period of the day."
Full information at the link below. I hope you find it as useful as I did.
Full Article: http://www.turf.msu.edu/docs/turftipsE09.pdf
MSU's Irrigation Practices to Preserve Water Quality
G.T. Lyman, P.E. Rieke & J.M. Vargas Jr.
Departments of Crop and Soil Sciences and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University