watering St Augustine everyday

bob big boy – posted 07 November 2004 18:54

I noticed that when the houses built around the neighborhood they would lay sod and sort of forget about it for a week or more. The new grass would turn or start to turn brown and when the “Mgr” came around to check on things he would turn on the sprinklers and leave them on non stop for 2 days or so and the grass would bounce back.

My question is my lawn was once the best on the block and over the summer got hit with fungus and hurricanes and in the past month I started watering everyday and my st augustine is on a rebond or so it seems. the brown is being replaced with green but with winter almost here……

Is it ok to water the heck out of it, 1 hour to 2 a day till the yard turns green and full again? When should I stop for winter? what is a winter program for st augustine in N fl?

turfie – posted 13 November 2004 18:47

whhhhhhhooooooooooooooaaaaa big boy,

That sounds like a lot of water. YOu really only need to apply 2 inches per week at most. Depending on what type of irrigation nozzles you have (spray or rotary). Keep in mind that now it is cooling off and watering so much can encourage fungal problems. Also, overwatering can cause many other problems. The best time to water is right around dawn so the leaf blades don’t stay wet too long, but the water also has a chance to sink in before evaporating. As it cools off, you can cut back even more on the watering. Say…3 times per week. Generally, 15 – 30 minutes max per day is sufficient……20 to 30 of you have the rotary sprinkler type head. The one we used to jump through as kids.