This time of year on Long Island, your lawn is under a great deal of stress due to high heat, humidity, strong sun, fungus, insects and more! Most common varieties of lawns is a combination of blue grass, rye, and fescue. These are cool weather plants. They love the spring and the fall and it shows. During the heat of the summer lawns go dormant and, of course, we prefer our lawns to look pristine all summer long. During the summer, we irrigate and fertilize to keep them green however the summer heat takes its toll and regular irrigation may not be enough to get them through the heat.
Of the many horticultural practices you can provide to help your lawn one technique that has proven beneficial is to run a second cycle during the hot part of the day. I know this runs contrary to what many experts may say, and you are probably thinking that you are just wasting water because much of it will evaporate before percolating into the soil. The water we use on Long Island is ground water and the temperature of ground water from our aquifer is 54 degrees Fahrenheit which is pretty chilly. By watering during the day, we are cooling the plants and relieving a lot of the stress they endure. Do this on only sunny hot days in lawn zones that are in full sun. It is easy to schedule your controller in another program or you can run those sun baked zones manually. You only need to run this program for less than half the time you normally water. Golf courses water this way all the time to protect their turf and they have had very good results, they call the afternoon cycle “syringing”. There are several other good practices to improve your lawn and have it looking beautiful all year round. I will post these articles in the next few weeks.
Look for our articles in the blog section of our web site at www.rainrich.com. If you need help programming your controller go to the Hunter Website or call us. If you require an analysis of your lawn, then please call our office at 631-423-2211 or click HERE.
One other note: Lawn care renovations begin in two weeks. End of August and the month of September are the best time to improve a lawn or start a new one.
Rain Rich Sprinklers has been serving Long Island for 35 years and prides itself on providing outstanding service and the best value.
