WATERING YOUR TURF

Watering the lawn is an important part of ensuring the long healthy life for your turf and crucial in the first month after laying your new turf.  This helps to keep a good surface and promote recovery after use and maintain good grass cover.

Water deeply each time you water – at least half an inch for clay soils and an inch (25mm) for sandy soils.

Water when the lawn tells you to. Your soil type, grass type, exposure to sun and wind are just a few of the factors that will determine how frequently you need to water. It also goes without saying that an adequately fertilised lawn will tolerate dry conditions better than one lacking proper nutrient levels. This might mean some lawns require watering once a week whilst others only need water once a month in exactly the same weather conditions.

The signs to look for when the lawn is starting to dehydrate are: a change in colour with the lawn becoming dull and possibly taking on a bluey tinge as moisture levels become low. In addition, the lawn will lose it’s ‘springiness’ and footprints will remain in the lawn when normally the grass would spring back to shape. If the lawn has started to turn brown however, you’re well passed the watering point and will need some specialist advice.

 When water is scarce due to conservation issues.ie. When reservoirs are not being adequately replenished, Grass will, unlike most other plants goes into a state of dormancy when moisture reaches critical levels. It will resume growth once water becomes available again.

Try to avoid having wet grass at night as this can promote disease, to water before the heat of the day is also ideal. You can put the sprinkler on anytime from 4am to early afternoon on most days even sunny ones. If the temperature gets above 240C/750F turn the water off.

If you have a disease in the lawn watering can make it worse. Red Thread and Fusarium will get worse in wetter conditions but improve as the turf dries naturally. Watering too often, too little or at the wrong time of day promotes disease, moss, weeds, weed grasses such as annual meadow grass and shallow rooting. Better no watering than watering incorrectly!

Sometimes soil becomes very hard to re-wet once it has dried out and may require a wetting agent to get through the period.