North America’s Water Rationed Lawns Can Be North America’s Green-ups

Summary: Drought and rations make North America’s water parched lawns lush green-ups if equipment, fertilizer, grasses, mulch, nutrients and pH work together.

A simple soil moisture sensor adequately conveys important water information to gardeners: Sealman, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Water rationed lawns are greening up nicely when equipment is maintained properly, grass is mowed high and fertilizer and water are portioned smartly, according to the May 2016 issue of Consumer Reports.

Kimberly Janeway and Ed Perratore, co-authors of The Grass Is Greener, base their findings upon the experiences of Peter Sawchuk, lawn mower and outdoor gear tester. Prolonged drought and water restrictions can bring a local water authority employee to check premises that look green and lush in a brown and parched neighborhood. A healthily dense, verdant lawn draws upon properly functioning soils, whose structures and textures can be eyeballed and felt and whose pH levels may be adjusted.

Agents, master gardeners and master naturalists at North America’s extension offices, arborists and tree stewards excel at conducting and interpreting pH and squeeze tests in lawns.

Below-ground moisture and nutrients follow unobstructed pathways through soils that break easily into dark-colored, fresh-smelling, small-sized clumps whose consistency resembles that of a gently squeezed-out sponge.

Soil pH tests give, at 0 to 6.3 and 6.8 to 14 respectively, the acidic and the alkaline ranges, whose occasional imbalances alter access to nutrients. Acidic soils sometimes have such nutrient imbalances that aluminum, iron and manganese become overabundant; calcium, magnesium and potassium become deficient; and nitrogen and phosphorus become inaccessible. Phosphorus sometimes is inaccessible, and selenium and sodium overabundant, in alkaline soils whose pH aluminum sulfate lowers, just like finely ground limestone raises acidic pH levels.

Care of lawn equipment, choice of region-friendly grasses and commitment to fertilizing and watering schedules join establishment of balanced nutrients and pHs in the healthiest yards.

Resourceful schedules keep fertilizers to once during fall in Canada and the northern United States and during spring in northern Mexico and the southern United States.

Mulched clippings and slow-release organic fertilizers without pet-unfriendly blood, bone or fish meal let grass reach 4.5-inch (11.43-centimeter) heights before cutbacks to 3.5 inches (8.89 centimeters). Mower blades sharpened monthly during mowing seasons and mower decks cleaned after uses make clearer, faster slicing cuts that do not brown-tip, stress or tear grass. Combined weekly totals from hoses or irrigation systems and from rainfall, measurable by rain barrel accumulations, need to deliver no more than 1 inch (2.54 centimeters).

Ideal rainfall and supplemental watering combinations occur with one long, slow release that grows roots not only outward but also downward in search of soil moisture.

Barrel-accumulated rainwater and timer-based irrigation systems, whose output moisture sensors, rain sensors and weather station data-fed controllers adjust, prevent water losses through evaporation, run-off and winds.

Frank Rossi, Associate Professor of Horticulture and turf scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, quantifies soil-moisture sensor-controlled lawns as guzzling 60 percent less water. Professor Rossi recommends drought-resistant/tolerant buffalo grasses in northwestern North America and tall fescues in northeastern North America, for 30 percent lower water consumption during active growth. He suggests drought-resistant/tolerant Bermuda and zoysia for Mexico and the southeastern and southwestern United States and tall fescues and zoysia from the Mid-Atlantic westward to Missouri.

Clean decks, 1-inch (2.54-centimeter) weekly watering, organic fertilizers and mulches, sharp blades and site-correct grasses and pH turn North America’s water parched lawns into lush green-ups.

A variety of buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) developed cooperatively by the Native Turfgrass Group and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 'Cody' has good winter hardiness and excels as a low-maintenance turfgrass for lawns: Garden Life Today @GardenLifeToday via Twitter March 4, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to:
talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

Image credits:

soil moisture sensor: Sealman, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soil_moisture_sensor.JPG

A variety of buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) developed cooperatively by the Native Turfgrass Group and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, ‘Cody’ has good winter hardiness and excels as a low-maintenance turfgrass for lawns: Garden Life Today‏ @GardenLifeToday via Twitter March 3, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/GardenLifeToday/status/705629485333217280

For further information:

Cornell SIPS. 9 March 2016. "Make Your Lawn an Attractive Environmental Asset." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKQMCP6U-bw

Garden Life Today‏ @GardenLifeToday. 3 March 2016. "Cody Buffalo Grass -- drought tolerant, warm season." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/GardenLifeToday/status/705629485333217280

Janeway, Kimberly; and Perratore, Ed. May 2016. “The Grass Is Greener.” Consumer Reports 81 (5): 18-21.
Available @ http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2016/05/index.htm