Last Updated on October 26, 2022 by ILGM Ninjas
There are 5 things that happen with water that you need to be aware of as they will affect your lawn and your wallet. They are:
- Infiltration- the water that goes into the lawn whether it be rain or irrigation, this is the water that is applied or fall son the lawn. As we only get around 17 inches along the Front Range the remainder of it must be supplied with irrigation.
- Water Carrying Capacity- This is the amount of water that the soil can hold. It is directly affected by #1 which must overcome soil compaction and thatch. The soils ability to hold water is directly related to the amount of soil organic matter. It needs to be around 5%. Most of the soils around here have half of that.
- Precipitation-Also called and related to leaching, this si the water that slips through the soil as it is unable to hold onto it.
- Evaporation- This is what you don’t see, the thief of the water that doesn’t make it into the ground. The higher the temperature, the lower the humidity and the higher the wind the more evaporation will occur. This is why we need to water deep as shallow watering will lose a lot from evaporation.
- Transpiration- Plants breathe and when they do they five off oxygen which we breathe but they also give off water vapor. Plants are basically organic water pumps. and the higher the temperature the higher the transpiration. This is why a plant along with increased sunlight uses more water during July than it does May.
With proper watering technique, deep watering, higher organic levels in the soil, controlled thatch and compaction and watering when the sun is not in the sky can greatly improve the water that you spend money on.