# What Am I doing wrong??



## EdenMd (7 mo ago)

Ok the background is I had irrigation installed on 23,000 sqft of lawn 3 yrs ago after inability to establish a lawn. This is Maryland's Eastern Shore region. The property is full sun in the middle what was once a crop field I think they grew strawberries and watermelons. So open field and not uncommon to get 10 mile an hour winds. The irrigation is 5 zones Hunter heads, Rainbird controler. So not knowing anything it was suggested run 3x a week. So I started that 30 min a zone. I did put out a rain gauge to get an idea what it was putting down and got some like 5/16. So 3 x a week and I'm close to 1 inch. 
My soil does not perk well so said the Wicomico County soil department that did my perk test when I bought the property. That perk test resulted in me having to have a septic mound system(a pain). So here is my problem. I started testing the soil with a "moisture meter" to get a more objective read on if I was getting adequate irrigation. So getting into the moist zone was my goal. I can run the system 30 minutes and check the next morning and it shows dry on the meter. I can run 5 days in a row and still shows dry. My theory is the fact the soil does not perk well results in water sitting in the top couple of inches at best and with temps in the high 80s and 90s, full sun and wind the water is just evaporating. I aerated last fall and read its not good to aerate in summer as well as spring. I've had problems with large patches of grass dying I believe because of fungus or drowning after 4 inches of rain. I keep reading that daily watering is bad but I can't run long enough per zone or I would be approaching noon before I got through 5 zones!!
I thought perhaps increase time per zone to 1 hr and do 2 or 3 zones one day and the other zones on alternate days. Any other suggestions given the background info?? Thanks


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

ET and Irrigation Guide


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## EdenMd (7 mo ago)

Good information, lots to digest. I know I have to water more because lots of wilting going on. It can look ok in the morning and by mid day or late afternoon things are starting to toast. Usually if we get rain over a day or two at a normal rate ending up with 1/2 to one inch things will pick up. I think the slower rate allows the water to absorb plus no sun. It's been about 23 days here with no rain so its all on the irrigation. I will read again the links and try to figure things out.


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## dksmc (8 mo ago)

What sensor are you using? And what readings are you getting?


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## EdenMd (7 mo ago)

To dksmc I just go around with a moisture meter. My irrigation system does not have sensors. The yard is all over the place. Some areas are nice and green others are heat stressed wilting and brown. Some areas the probe goes in nice and easy others I can not penetrate the soil an inch. Going on 25 days no rain. I can't come up with any schedule to get things to a uniform moist soil.


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## dksmc (8 mo ago)

EdenMd said:


> To dksmc I just go around with a moisture meter. My irrigation system does not have sensors. The yard is all over the place. Some areas are nice and green others are heat stressed wilting and brown. Some areas the probe goes in nice and easy others I can not penetrate the soil an inch. Going on 25 days no rain. I can't come up with any schedule to get things to a uniform moist soil.


What kind of soil do you have? Do you have any idea what your soil profile is? I am just asking because I only have 2K sqft and even I have different soil types/profiles. It could be that your yard isn't uniform and therefore it requires different water requirements in different areas.

Just a quick pointer, if you have sandy soil the water will pass through it very quickly, but the water is very available to the roots. Sandy soils can often show "dry" or "low" on a soil sensor. If your soil is clay then it will hold more water, but it isn't as available to your roots. Some sensors may show 15% for instance for a sandy soil, and 40% for clay, but the available water could be the same.

How do you fix this with your irrigation? Not really sure, lol. But if this is the problem you may be able to figure out a plan if you know what areas require what.

Edit: Just realized that a lot of this is covered, and in more detail, in the link @g-man posted above! So definitely look at that.


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

I live in south eastern Washington. It's DRY here and we have sandy loam. This whole region is a river basin. The only difference as you go deeper is the size of the sand granules and bigger rocks.

We can water over night and the surface will be dry within 12-24-36 hours. There is some moisture in the root zone but not a lot. Water runs right through our soil.

We have been over 95* since early June and 29+/- days have been over 100. Grass can show stress in 48 hours.

Depending how nice of a years you want, a full reno might be in your future.

Get a tractor and implements to turn your soil down a foot or so and mix in some organic material to turn/rebuild your growth layer and break up the compacted or clay layers that are currently there.

Expensive. Yes.
Worth it… maybe.


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