What an unusual spring. We have seen abnormally warm temperatures followed by heavy frost. The one constant has been the droughtlike conditions. One advantage early in the season is we can control the amount of water applied and preserve and grow our root systems for the summer. What is that going to bring??? Let me educate you a little about our overhead irrigation. Both systems are excellent and are computer controlled. The computer sequences the irrigation we deem necessary to replace the water lost the previous day. A typical watering cycle lasts from 9 PM to 5:30 AM. We can pump over a million gallons of water in one night. Not all of the irrigation heads pop up at once. The intricate underground piping is divided into flow zones by the computer. This helps save wear and tear on the pipe, pumps and various components.
One problem has been the constant wind. The wind has an effect on the irrigation coverage. The layout of parts of the system, while excellent, there are coverage problems. This occurs in every system. An example is on Seaside where some tees have become very wet around the tee, but the tee top is dry. We are using soil surfactants to prevent premature drying, localized dry spots and preserve firmness.
In the spring when the humidity is low, my philosophy is to give the turf a deep watering and wait until the grass shows signs of wilt before applying more water. We use moisture meters to dial the amounts of water applied. An average water cycle is 20-30 minutes a head. If a head applies 30 gallons per minute, that area receives 600 gallons in 20 minutes. Deeper, infrequent irrigation hardens the turf for summer and promotes deeper root growth. Its all about the roots!
As of April 13, we qre approaching 6 inches BELOW normal rainfall. Where are the April showers???
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