# Syringing Practices



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I've done a bit of research around this subject and wanted to share what I found. I've read sites/forum that recommend it to cool the lawn down during heavy heat. I was always a bit doubtful of how long of a cooling effect it has. The research shows the cooling effect is very short (~2min to 30min), see: http://turf.unl.edu/turfinfo/July13%20Syringing.pdf.

While also interesting is that it does seems to help. "Turf quality in both syringed and hand-watered plots was significantly and visibly better than that of the control plots" from http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/holen/article/2000jul29.pdf

I will continue doing syringing. I only do it in very hot dry days (+90F), that have full sun, no cloud and no later than 3:30pm (ie this past sunday).


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

I did this last year, laser temp gun in hand. The canopy temp dropped 10 degrees for about 10 minutes. The canopy temp is about 20 degrees higher than air temp.


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## tgreen (Oct 20, 2018)

I realize this thread is old but there is good info here. Drove by a golf course near me and they had the water going at 2 p.m. Made me again wonder if this practice was actually proven and should I be doing it. My conclusion is it is a waste of time for reducing canopy temperature. Heat stress is the main limiting factor for me now since I have disease under control and moisture is fine. I think there is nothing that can be done for it. Thanks for posting these articles!


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## MrMeaner (Feb 21, 2017)

I think the golf courses do it for golf greens...not real practical for a home lawn as far as I can see


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## beardizzle1 (Jun 13, 2019)

I've actually been doing this for part of my lawn (600 sq ft in the front).. it looks way better than anywhere else. It's not much time for me to do it and it gets me out in the yard for 10-15minutes each evening if I have nothing else to do. I'll probably continue to do it.


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## lawnforum33 (Jul 17, 2019)

I have been doing this for the entire season and I can definitely see that it works. The temperatures on the surface of the lawn remain 10-20 degrees cooler on areas where I syringed than areas where I did not syringe. For me this lasts about 1-2 hours on the hottest of days. Last week it was over 100 degrees here on Long Island and I noticed that watering for about 8 minutes cooled the temperature of the turf for about an hour and a half. The problem I am having now is that I noticed a fungus in one area of my lawn. I applied Scotts DiseaseEx about 2 weeks ago at a preventative rate and still had brown patch in this one part of my lawn. Its possible that I missed this section when applying the granular but its also possible that to much watering with all the humidity we had was to much for the fungicide. I dont know.


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## RichS (Jan 28, 2019)

Following up on this old post as, after a bit of research and a couple of summers of loss of grass due to heat (it all goes dormant, but patches don't recover), I decided to give it a try in the front yard.

I have about 3,200 square feet that is exposed to the sun all day, and it takes me about 10 minutes to walk it with a hose and apply a light mist. On days when temps are near or above 90, I'm doing it twice - between noon and 1, when temps are getting high, and 5-6p when it's hottest but starting cool down, allowing enough time to dry before the evening.

Research I've read, including in the OP, confirms that it is effective. I'm not in the south, so the days with highs in the upper 80s and 90s are not frequent,. I suppose doing it every day could become labor intensive. I suppose that whether this is practical depends on whether your work situation/location and the availability of a programmable irrigation system that can take care of it.


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

RichS said:


> Following up on this old post as, after a bit of research and a couple of summers of loss of grass due to heat (it all goes dormant, but patches don't recover), I decided to give it a try in the front yard.
> 
> I have about 3,200 square feet that is exposed to the sun all day, and it takes me about 10 minutes to walk it with a hose and apply a light mist. On days when temps are near or above 90, I'm doing it twice - between noon and 1, when temps are getting high, and 5-6p when it's hottest but starting cool down, allowing enough time to dry before the evening.
> 
> Research I've read, including in the OP, confirms that it is effective. I'm not in the south, so the days with highs in the upper 80s and 90s are not frequent,. I suppose doing it every day could become labor intensive. I suppose that whether this is practical depends on whether your work situation/location and the availability of a programmable irrigation system that can take care of it.







this video shows just how fast the heat returns


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