# Questions from a confused newbie on irrigation



## Lawn_newbie (Jun 19, 2018)

Pretty much have the 1" per week drilled in but how does that change based on climate?

This week we are seeing temperatures near 90 degrees every day with no rain in sight for at least 3-4 more days. Should I check the soil moisture down a few inches and maybe add a second day onto my weekly schedule?

I watched YouTube videos and that seemed to introduce more conflicting information. One video said to water later in the afternoon for a few minutes to help the grass 'breath' because of the heat. I would have thought adding water droplets could actually cause magnification on the leaf blade increasing the leaf temperature.

My Google Foo is pretty good so an answer shouldn't be too hard to find... I found a chart that says when temperatures are above 90 you should water 3x a week.

What should be the optimum watering schedule for having a yard that wants to grow up and dominate?

Are there any devices that measure soil humidity that could trigger a watering schedule for a Rachio control unit?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Great questions. I am about to leave for a jul 3rd celebration. So I'm only going to point you to a similar thread. https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4079

I need to make sometime and write an irrigation best practices article.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

g-man said:


> ...I need to make sometime and write an irrigation best practices article.


You would write a good one. :thumbsup:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

The "watering in the afternoon for a few minutes" video was probably referring to syringing. It's a technique to lightly cool down the turf moreso than irrigating - the light misting of water in the afternoon causes evaporation, which carries some of the heat on the turf with it. Some golf courses also hand water their greens in the afternoon so they can prevent overwatering with the sprinklers. Either way I doubt the video was actually recommending performing your primary watering cycle in the afternoon.

Regarding using a moisture reader to control a Rachio - there's some discussion of it in the Personal Weather Station thread.


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## unclebucks06 (Apr 25, 2018)

You need to figure your average evapotranspiration for your area. You only need to apply as much as leaves.

Depending on your soil type you can then figure if you want to apply it all at once or 2-3 times per week.


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## NoslracNevok (Jun 12, 2018)

Evapotranspiration - put in as much water as it puts out. However this is dependent on how your soil retains water and how well water moves through it (sandy vs clay, compact vs fluffy, thatch buildup are some things effecting this), grass type and it's height of cut. The 1 inch a week rule, I'm just now realizing was a blue pill.


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