# Heat Stress/Browning



## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

Hello all,

It looks like an area that gets a ton a ton of sun (almost all day), is suffering from heat stress. Here are some pictures:









I'm aware, that I'm supposed to water deeper and less frequently, however, I get a lot of run-off from that area. The water just doesn't soak into the ground. I've had a soil test done, and Waypoint classified it as 'Sand'.

In past years, I mechanically aerated, but this year started using Air8. My question is, how do I water less to promote deeper roots, when I can barely retain water in that area?


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## Wiley (Dec 2, 2019)

What does your current irrigation schedule look like? If you are experiencing too much run off you may need to split your irrigation time into two or three days. For me personally my soil would not be receptive to one or two deep waterings a week so I water three days a week and kick the irrigation on for a fourth day if its crazy hot or if drought stress is present.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

This spot gets watered every day, by looking at the Rachio logs. ~5m a day.

I've done the tuna can test, and this area, to get 1 inch a week, would need to run for ~1 hour/week. I feel like if I don't water every day, the grass struggles going in/out of dormancy.


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## greencare (Sep 14, 2019)

What height are you cutting at?


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@Kenny_Login If it's sand and you can't get water in there it's almost certainly hydrophobic. You need a retaining wetting agent. Lots of good ones on the market but for the price Soaker Plus by Helena is a good option, it's what I use. Without it you probably have no shot at keeping it green.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

@greencare - about 3 inches


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

@CarolinaCuttin - that sounds interesting, and probably about right. I can water with a hose, and it pretty much just runs off. I'll look into that one, but do you have a list of others I can investigate?


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@Kenny_Login It sucks that it costs as much as it does, but it's a professional golf course quality product.

As far as cheaper options you might be able to get good results from either Hydretain or Penterra. Look at Penterra, it's much cheaper but can really damage grass if it isn't watered in properly. I've never used either one but maybe you can do a search and find some members that have.


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## greencare (Sep 14, 2019)

Kenny_Login said:


> @greencare - about 3 inches


Did you maintain this height for spring as well?


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## zackroof (Oct 27, 2019)

Surf Max for the win


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

@greencare - yeah, all year round.

@zackroof - I'll look into that one too.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@Kenny_Login When you do a tuna audit test, can you place one in the gray looking are and one in the green area? it looks like you dont have even distribution.

Is your rachio setup for sand soil?

Lastly, get a shovel and try to go straight down and see if you hit rocks or concrete.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

@g-man yeah, after I got the soil sample, I tweaked Rachio to mark that area sand. Also, I'm not helped by the fact that there's a slope here too. I live on a slight to moderate hill. I made sure Rachio accounts for that too.

That's a good idea though, I can redo the tuna can test on that area. I've suspected that the sprinkler isn't distributing correctly. I've adjusted the rate/fan arc to try and account for that. I even dug it up and re-aligned as it wasn't 100% vertical either. What would be the recommendation for that? A different nozzle/head? I seem to recall things being a real PITA to get a soil sample. It was hard and/or hard to avoid hitting small rocks/pebbles, but I'll check this weekend.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Tell the rachio that's a steep incline. It will do more soak cycles of on that zone. It should help with run off.

I cant tell the head placement. A matched precipitation nozzle (eg hunter mp) will be my choice for an area like this.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Check the soil immediately after an irrigation run by pulling a core or wedge to see how deep the water is getting. Definitely do an irrigation audit to make sure you are getting down enough water and that it is even across the zone.


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## cldrunner (May 14, 2019)

@Kenny_Login The end of the neighbors looks a little dry as well. Down by the street surrounded by asphalt and concrete that area may need twice the amount of water. You can trick the controller by saying it is sand and watering longer. I have a circle drive that is surrounded by concrete drive and sidewalk that needs about 2 inches a week. You could also change the last spray head to one that allows more water output.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

Well. So, I went outside and tried to put a spade in the ground, like @g-man suggested. I'm a big guy, and I couldn't make a dent in it. By the looks of it, this grass is pretty much trying to grow in concrete at this point. Is the wetting agent the only way to penetrate something like this? I'm going to do the tuna can test again later today to verify the output of the sprinkler head. But even if I get new heads etc, I'm not sure how the water is going to penetrate the soil.

Thanks @cldrunner, yeah, this area gets sun almost all day. And with the heat of the surrounding asphalt, that probably is contributing to this. My Rachio is set to sand, and moderate hill. I think that has the effect of watering less, but more frequently to avoid the water run-off. I might be off on that though.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@Kenny_Login once you water it, it will become soft again.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

Ok, so I did the tuna can test, and as suspected, although irrigation is running, it's really not touching the areas that it should be. Which is interesting to me, as one assumes that because the irrigation is running, it's watering the area it covers.

The question then becomes, what can I do? Different heads, nozzles etc?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Do a layout of what you have (location, distance, nozzle type) and we can see how to fix with minimal digging.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Until you get the irrigation fixed, that area needs water. Run a hose end sprinkler for 60 minutes. I would break it into 15 minute runs with 20-30 minutes between them so the water doesn't just run off. I would put down 1.5-2 inches of water in that area total. Check after each watering cycle to see how far the water is getting into the soil profile. If the water isn't getting into the soil, then spray cheap shampoo at 2-4 Oz/k to try and break down any hydrophobic layer at the surface.

I would try this before an expensive wetting agent.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

@g-man - OK, will do. I'll grab a view of that area via Google Maps and mark out the locations, distance between etc.

In the meantime, this is the sprinkler in question. As you can see, it's right by the area in question, but not really dropping water immediately in front of it.



Thanks @bernstem, will do. I'll nip to the hardware store tomorrow and see what they have.


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## Kallgren (Nov 10, 2018)

@Kenny_Login its been very dry this spring just north of you in southern NH, and I also have areas of very sandy soil. For small areas, I think a soaker hose is a great idea.

I been moving one around the past couple day to target problem areas. Not very expensive either.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@Kenny_Login for sprinklers to work correctly they need head to head spraying. There should be another sprinkler opposite to that one to get even coverage.

For now, get a hose and just water that area for a long time.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

@g-man yeah, there isn't one opposite (that would be the neighbour's property), but there is another one next to it, facing the same way, along the edge of the driveway. I'll check if they reach head-to-head.

Thanks @Kallgren, I'll see if they have one of those.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

OK, rather than the overhead view, I was able to pull this old image from Streeview. I've highlighted where the sprinklers are now.



Interestingly enough, when this picture was taken, it looks like there was irrigation where the flags were. The reason I suspect that, is that there are flags marking out the exact spots on the other side of the driveway. Which is odd, as there are no sprinkler heads where the flags are in this picture.

I'll measure the distance between heads and see if I can see make/model. Thanks for all the help, everyone!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

A single line will not be enough. There should be heads on the opposite side. How many feet from your driveway to the property line? How many head in that zone?


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

There's 7 heads in this zone, but this is the only area that has any issues.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

In addition, I'd need to look up the exact property lines, but it's around 6 feet from the edge of the driveway to the property line.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

OK, @g-man, this is what I have:



In investigating the property lines and looking at out land survey, the property line is actually only a couple of feet from the edge of the driveway. So, it's unlikely I'm going to be able to put in sprinklers opposite it. I am actually probably taking care of part of my neighbour's yard, to be honest. As you can see from the first few pictures, they don't really look after theirs and I don't want such an eye-sore so I'll probably continue to do so until we move.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

To get this right, half way between the nozzles there should be a nozzle on the opposite side. But that could be a problem with the property line.

What is the nozzle model? Can you adjust it so it sprays further out?

Another option, round up, add 3-4 shrubs and mulch. Place in front of the nozzles to water the shrubs.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

So, along that line, the one in the picture and the one next to it are Hunter ones. PDC-15A. The third one along the driveway, is a Rainbird 15 VAN.

I was thinking of expanding the reach of the one next to it, so that it overlaps/compensates for the lack of coverage immediately in front of the one pictured. If that makes sense?


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

That end of the lawn by the street is getting dry because it is only getting water from one sprinkler. The other areas are getting two heads watering them. Ideally, you would have 3-4 heads watering every part of the lawn. You would do that by putting heads opposite the current ones and extend the rows to place two on the end at the corner spraying 90 degrees instead of 180 like the other. Assuming you don't want to put irrigation heads in the neighbors lawn, you can add another head to the end next to the current one or even where the white flag is in the photo. Set it to ~90-100 degrees to water just the dry area. It isn't ideal, but it will increase the amount of water that spot gets and is a relatively inexpensive hack to fix the issue.

The light blue head is the hack. The light blue + the green would be close to ideal for the area next to the drive. You probably could benefit from more heads next to the house too, but I didn't add any there.


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## Kenny_Login (Aug 17, 2018)

Thanks @bernstem. Thank makes perfect sense. Realistically, I think the 'hack' might be the best option. I don't want to run the risk of digging up my neighbour's yard.

Is there a good guide to extending the irrigation? I know the sprinkler is the end of the line, and has an elbow joint. Is it just a case of cutting it, and putting in a T-joint to extend it further?


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