Do you have to water a lawn from above?
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I kept forgetting to ask this until I saw the low maint lawn post.
We get planty of sun in SoCal, but it’s pretty dry. I’d like to set up a watering system, and I was wondering about burying drip lines or soaker hoses. I want to get water to the roots.
Is this just an impossible dream? It’s a small yard, like 1/8 acre I think.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
I don’t feel it’s healthy to keep your faults bottled up inside me.
Replies
Paul, have you considered an alternative to a lawn that needs watering? There are many native plants out there that won't require you to use water. You won't have that golf course look, but it could be much more interesting.
If you are set on having a lawn anyway, this is a great book that includes ways to minimize water usage: http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Lawn-Care-Manual/dp/1580176496/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223255114&sr=8-1
Finally, to actually answer your question, drip/soaker hoses work great at getting water to the roots but a lawn is such an extensive system of roots that you would need to run a mile of hose to get the water everywhere. Pop-up sprinklers seem to be the method of choice around here. If you have healthy soil it will hold the water much better than over-fertilized dead soil.
I don't see the benefit in what you are trying to do.
Get a good even sprinkler system installed.
Water less often and longer so it soaks into the roots.
Water in the early morn so it won't evaporate and it has a chance to dry out so it doesn't get a fungus going.
Cut your turf as long as you can. It shades the soil more.
Don't scrimp on top soil. It will absorb water better.
I might have missed something. But if you do all of these things you should have a healthy lawn that requires less water.
Run some water on your lawn. How quickly does it disappear?
Here's a couple of questions. If you are using a mulching mower how is the grass going to break down if it isn't watered from above?
I throw all sorts of yard waste on my lawn before mowing and just run it over with the mower. Most of it just disappears in a couple of days. If you want you can bag it after running it over and compost it. It will compost much faster when it is in smaller pieces. But most of the time I just run it over and it is gone. It feeds the lawn. But you have to keep it damp or it won't compost.
What about when you feed your lawn? You need to water in you fertilizer? Right about now is time to winter feed your lawn. It is one of the most important things you can do for your lawn. It strengthens the root system.
I reduced the size of my front lawn drastically. But I still wanted a bit of lawn. The neat thing about a really small lawn is I can get it much nicer because it is so small.
Edited 10/5/2008 9:15 pm ET by popawheelie
Edited 10/5/2008 9:18 pm ET by popawheelie
I did hire a designer to help with the plan. You can see just how small the turf is. The brown area is shredded bark.
Edited 10/5/2008 9:25 pm ET by popawheelie
Nice drawing. elegant design. for a small area like that I like the idea of using fern misters to give it a good soaking an hour of two before dawn once a week with a rain sensor to back it off in case of rain. Set it to run on Monday mornings when you really hate having to get up so early. That first cup of coffee on the deck in the early morning light as the misters finish their cycle and shut down for the week is an "all's well with the world after all" kind of experience. Just the thing for Monday morning looking ahead to the objectives of the week kind of a vibe. ------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
To late. I just got it seeded and everything up and running. I just used conventional popups except for one in the middle of the circle. I used a mini rotator set to minimum distance. I did it just for kicks.
http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/MP1000360-360-Degree-MP1000-MP-Rotator-Nozzle-p/mp1000360.htm
Edited 10/6/2008 9:15 am ET by popawheelie
Sounds like fun. I like doing irrigation plumbing. less stressful than real plumbing. more like play.------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
Maybe something like this will work? It's for sports arenas and may be applicable to a small lawn.
http://www.greentechitm.com/
OK, that is super cool! I like the idea of a modular lawn. If I goof up one part, ican take it out and replace it! I could also "lawn" other areas that are concrete.Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CAAlso a CRX fanatic!
I don't feel it's healthy to keep your faults bottled up inside me.
short answer, no!
you can water a lawn with a drip irrragation system however the coverage of such a emitter is tiny so you would need a rather extensive net work which would make working in the yard extremely difficult and prone to system damage..
If you decide to go ahead with pop-ups don't use rotators! Not very efficent and a lot of the water is lost due to atmospheric absorbtion. Simple spray heads are far better. Where I have spray heads rather than rotators I use less water and it takes less than half the time to do what my rotators do.
The rotators turned all the way up took as long as 40 minutes to water the same size area as my spray heads did in 10 minutes.
I still have my rotators because I like the sound they make.. but I have unlimited free water in front of my house so all I need to do is run the pump a bit longer..
frenchy's right that rotators take longer to water but sometimes that is an advantage. Since the water goes on slower it can give it more time to soak in. And mixing both types is a no-no because of the difference in time required.
One other thing. Rotators have a lot more moving parts that can wear out.
Edited 10/6/2008 9:13 am ET by popawheelie
"If you decide to go ahead with pop-ups don't use rotators! Not very efficent and a lot of the water is lost due to atmospheric absorbtion. Simple spray heads are far better. Where I have spray heads rather than rotators I use less water and it takes less than half the time to do what my rotators do. The rotators turned all the way up took as long as 40 minutes to water the same size area as my spray heads did in 10 minutes. "They are both SPRAYERS and allow some of the water to evaporate.The reason that the rotators take longer is that they typically have much smaller flow rates per coverage area.And if you want you can use gear head rotator rather then the impulse. They are basic spay heads that rotate..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
BillHartmann
360 coverage compared to what 5 degrees per impulse? No the flow ratings on the impulse sprinklers are higher than spray heads.. 3 GPM Versis 15 GPM at 25 PSI
while they are both sprayers they don't don't have the same evapration rate due to one being an effective sheet of water and the other widely spaced droplets of water
If you looked at my lawn during the heat of this summer you'll note that where the inpulse sprayers worked the lawn was much less green and dense than where the sprayers watered.. that in spite of 40 minute watering compared to 10 minute watering..
"No the flow ratings on the impulse sprinklers are higher than spray heads.. 3 GPM Versis 15 GPM at 25 PSI"Give a brand and model number.The largest impulse that I could find needed 40 psi or higher for 15 GPM and covered over 50 ft radius. MUCH, MUCH larger than any spray head."If you looked at my lawn during the heat of this summer you'll note that where the inpulse sprayers worked the lawn was much less green and dense than where the sprayers watered.. that in spite of 40 minute watering compared to 10 minute watering.."That is because you are running them long enough.Based on what you are saying you are putting 20 times the amount of water on the same size area and are not getting as much on the ground. The evaporation rate is just not that much different..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
BillHartmann.
Orbit model 54170 and I would have to dig up one of my rotators to give you it's model number (I don't have any spares)..
I could not find it on Orbits website.But according to this is covers 10-15 ft circle.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004S1UGThat is much less than any impact..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I installed a new computer operated lawn sprinkler system at this SoCal tract home a couple of years ago.
After watching the effectiveness of several types of plastic sprinkler heads, I chose to use the older style of round brass pop-up sprinkler orginally designed by Champion. I also installed Champion's brass valves.
The plumbing is all PVC; 3/4" laterals with 3/4"X threaded 1/2" T's and threaded 1/2" nipples/risers.
The older brass sprinklers produce larger droplets than plastic sprinklers which, in low humidity environments, allow a much larger percentage of the water to end up in the ground.
HudsonValley Carpenter..
Excellant point.. All my popups are brass as well.
Interesting idea.
Some farmers use drain tiles to irrigate their fields. They cap off the drains and pump water into the drain tile to add water to the soil in the root zone. That way virtually nothing is lost to evaporation.
I don't know why it wouldn't work on a yard also if you could work out the details.
If you do go there, don't forget that any time you're opening up a pipe underground, you can have some pretty "interesting" backflow issues and concerns about getting contaminants into your potable water system. Plan accordingly.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
The only thing Ive ever seen that was worth while was pumping sewer water underneath the roots for water and fertilizer. It has a tank for solids but instead of leach lines the excess water is auger pumped through smaller lines under the grass.
Paul-
The short answer is yes. Check out this company...
http://www.netafim-usa-landscape.com/
But as stated above, you'd have an extensive system and prone to damage by the occasional shovel!
After we get done with the inside of the house, we will turn our efforts to the outside. When we do that, I want to automate the watering as much as possible. Other than planting in specific areas, there's not much call to put a shovel in the dirt here. Plus, since the yard is entirely enclosed I can actually know down to the inch exactly where every line is.Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CAAlso a CRX fanatic!
I don't feel it's healthy to keep your faults bottled up inside me.
That's a good question. I'll bet most people here won't get the water issue. Nearly everyone from east of the 100th meridian hasn't a clue about the water issues of the west.
Though not an answer to your question, I read of some golf courses in CA built with a unique water saving feature. They took used tires, cut them in half like bagels, and laid them cupped side up in a solid pattern covering the ground (which had been excavated about 18" deep. They put the soil back over them and claimed the new turf only needed about half the water of a normal gold course (if a gold course can be considered normal!)
I think whatever I do will involve a redesign of the earth layers in the yard. Right now my soil really doesn't let water penetrate much at all. I've got to introduce a ton(s) more organic matter to the topsoil. I need to get some worms interested in the yard too!Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CAAlso a CRX fanatic!
I don't feel it's healthy to keep your faults bottled up inside me.
Yes you can!!!
We did it on our last place. There is a local garden shop called 'The Urban Farmer Store' and they had all the widgets and know-how and helped us design the lay-out.
They don't use 'soaker hose' but hose with holes in the bottom. You run the piping from the valve to an underground manifold and we ran the lines on 6" centers I think (sorry we didnt take any pictures) . You have to think about this because you need to make sure the lawn is being water evenly.
Couple of things you don't think about the experts helped us with..
You have to have a 'dump valve' on the end of the system that basically allows the lines to flush by dumping the first 1-2gal of water straight out.
No aerating the lawn thats for sure-don't remember what the long term consequences of that would be.
We think it worked great and really cut down on the water needed to keep our small patch of lawn green.
Hope this helps..
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer