It is now mid July, and I think it is safe to say that this is the hottest and driest summer Central Pennsylvania has experienced in a few years. Over the past couple of months I have heard a lot of comments about the brown and crunchy lawns around the area. Here are my two favorites:
We do not need irrigation in Pennsylvania. Well yes and no. Pennsylvania is not Arizona. We do not need irrigation to grow grass, however we typically do not receive enough rainfall to sustain healthy turf throughout the summer. I observe many businesses and homeowners treating their lawns with fertilizers and pesticides. A healthy lawn is a lawn that has deep roots and dense coverage. A healthy lawn is accomplished with proper amounts of water and nutrients throughout the growing season. When both are provided at proper levels, the inputs of both are minimized. This means that less fertilizer is needed if the lawn receives enough water and less water is needed if the lawn receives the proper amount of nutrients. A denser lawn suppresses weeds. I am sure you can see where this discussion is heading!
By hand watering I am reducing my water use. A well designed, installed, and maintained irrigation system should distribute a uniform amount of water over the irrigated area. It should do this only when the area requires water, right before one would see signs of water stress. Hand watering in our area is usually accomplished by placing some sort of sprinkler in the lawn and running it until you remember that it is on, or you have finished talking to your neighbor or coworker. It typically waters all types of areas like sidewalks, roads, houses... in addition to the lawn. One usually begins the cycle of hand watering after the lawn becomes brown. The first problem with this method is the uneven, untimed, uncalculated amount of water being provided to the lawn, or the sidewalk. The second problem with this method is not watering the lawn until it goes brown, or what is referred to as dormancy. Once turf goes into dormancy one has to provide it with enough water to convince it that it is safe to start growing again. This requires a lot more water than it takes to sustain growth.
So does this mean that everyone in Pennsylvania should have an irrigation system? The answer is no. Many people are happy with the way lawns grow in Pennsylvania. My father does not have an irrigation system. He does not understand why you would water your lawn resulting in the need to mow in July and August. However, if you are a business or homeowner that spends money to treat their lawn four times a year, or have extra hoses and a couple of sprinklers that you picked-up at your local hardware store, you may want to reconsider your practices.
