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Saturday, April 14, 2001
Follow 5 steps to conserve water

With the new water restrictions coming into effect, it is important that home gardeners make the most of their watering. Landscape water conservation is a must in our area, and some simple practical steps will help you maximize your watering options.
   One of the easiest ways to conserve water is to understand lawn watering and apply some simple tips for efficient irrigation. Efficient irrigation has several components.

Water at the right time of day
Use large-drop sprinklers
Inspect irrigation systems and watering patterns
Mulch
Promote strong, healthy turf growth
   Limiting the time of day for watering eliminates the wasting of water by watering at the wrong time. Mid-day watering wastes as much as 50 percent of the water through evaporation. Water in the early morning, prior to 10 a.m., when temperatures and winds are lowest. Early-morning watering also reduces water waste caused by high winds, which blow water spray onto sidewalks.

   Use large drops
   Another simple step is to use sprinklers that produce large water droplets. These are heavier and make their way to the soil faster due to greater weight. Avoid fine mist sprinklers, since fine mists often evaporate before they hit the grass. The water that does make it to the turf is in small drops, and sits on the leaf surface instead of working its way to the soil and grass roots. If water remains on the grass-blade surface, it will evaporate, especially in hot, sunny and windy conditions.
   Another tipavoid watering cement. Too often we adjust sprinklers to water to the edge of the sidewalk and even well beyond the grassy area. As a result, a lot of water winds up running down storm sewers and ditches.

   Check sprinklers
   If you are lucky enough to own an automatic sprinkler system, remember to check it regularly for missing or damaged heads. Geysers often appear at 6 a.m. without the homeowner's knowledge, due to broken sprinkler heads. Not only is a large amount of water put into one small area, but the pressure in the rest of the system is severely reduced and the rest of your lawn will also suffer from under-watering. Regular inspection also allows you to realign any mis-adjusted heads that are watering sidewalks instead of grass.
   Another suggestion is to incorporate organic mulches such as bark, grass clipping and compost into the landscape. They cool the soil, save water and reduce weeds if applied properly. Mulches should be at least 2 inches deep to provide significant water savings, and 3 or 4 inches deep to effectively reduce weed growth. Remember, weeds compete for water with your landscape plants, so minimizing weed populations with mulch leaves that much more water available.

   Use mulches
   Organic mulches are better choices for water conservation than are inorganic forms such as gravel, because rocks and gravel reflect the heat of the sun and cause the microclimate temperatures around plants to rise. To cool themselves, plants will transpire, allowing water to evaporate from tiny pores in their leaves. As temperatures rise due to the reflected heat, the plant transpires more and has to take up more water to keep the cooling process going. This cancels out the water savings of rock mulches.
   Finally, promote strong healthy turf growth through proper maintenance. Healthy grass is more water efficient. Fertilize grass throughout the spring, summer and early fall to promote deep, strong roots. Mow grass weekly during the summer and adjust the mowing height to a slightly higher level to allow for shading. Also, don't bag your lawn clippings, especially in the summer. The clippings will return nitrogen back to the soil, help mulch the soil surface and conserve water. Also look out for disease or insect damage and treat at the first signs.

   Stress conservation
   Water conservation in the landscape must be a priority for homeowners if our most precious natural resource is to be available for future generations. In residential areas, up to 60 percent of the water used may be for landscapes and gardens during peak water-use seasons - mostly as a result of traditional, water-demanding landscapes and improper application. Widespread application of these lawn-watering tips could reduce landscape water use by half, even when water restrictions are not in place, and that's a saving from which we can all benefit.

Michael Womack is a horticulturist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Got a question? Michael Womack will answer landscape and gardening questions. Call 886-4648, category 3025 to record your question. Write Keep It Green, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, P.O. Box 9136, Corpus Christi, TX 78469 or email wm-womack@tamu.edu

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