There are many steps which can be taken in caring for your lawn:
Watering Your Lawn: The more established your turf the less water you need to apply. This means that over the first couple of months you will gradually reduce both the amount of times you water and how long you water. Lawns in Perth (Australia) need to get 30-40mm per week during the dry months.
A simple way to check this is to spread some pressure pack caps (if you can’t get catch cups) randomly over your lawn. Time how long it takes to catch e.g. 15mm of water. Once this is known you can then set your controller to run so as to deliver the correct amount of water to your lawn. For instance 10mm caught in 20 minutes, = 15mm in 30 minutes, = 2x 30 minute applications per station, per week, to receive 30mm of water. Being aware of mains pressure changes this test should be done at around the time you would normally be watering. If the amount of water in the cups varies too much an audit of the system should take place so as to fix discrepancies. Lawn Doctor can assist with an audit on your system.
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Sir Walter (St Augustines grass in America) Premium Lawn Turf can be maintained on the required two watering days however it is important to ensure that the watering system you are using is performing correctly. Most of the queries we get from turf owners are because of dry areas in their turf. This always shows up after the first dry spell and heat wave of the season (normally December - Australia) and is usually caused by the following:
A faulty reticulation system, with blocked and or misaligned sprinklers or low pressure being the most common problems. In new sub divisions the amount of pressure in your system can also change depending on how many new houses are being added to the same mains. Also, different sprinkler types need to be ran for different times, for example rotating or gear driven sprinklers need 45 minutes to put out 15mls, while a conventional pop up system may only need 10 minutes.
When Landscape mixes are not mixed thoroughly with the existing soil (see preparation and laying guide). After winter they can dry out and become anti wetting. This then causes the lawn itself to dry out as its roots have only been living in the landscape mix and have not penetrated any deeper.
Note: The poor humble lawn beetle or black beetle is often blamed for these conditions. To check if in the unlikely circumstance you do have an infestation you can stick your hose into the lawn and flood the area of about a metre square. If you get more than 20 adult beetles or grubs floating to the top then yes you do have an infestation and a substance can be used to eradicate the problem. Usually though you won’t and any less than the above amount can actually be beneficial to your lawn as they burrow through the soil, acting as an organic aerator.
