The March HOA Open Village Meeting (which was cancelled) was to include a presentation from the turf grass experts at the UT Knoxville Institute of Agriculture on lawn care practices in East Tennessee. Since we’re now starting into the lawn care season, I thought I’d pass along to you some of the recommendations that they were planning to give, plus a couple of my own thoughts.
In general, while the grass you now have may be similar to whatever you had in the place you moved from, the climate and soil are not the same in east Tennessee. It is worthwhile rethinking how you take care of your lawn here in Tellico Village to get the best results. The benefits to doing so are reduced water use, less fungal disease, improved water runoff and erosion control, and lower costs to maintain your lawn overall.
Irrigation Guidelines
- In East Tennessee the irrigation season is typically from late March to the third week in September.
- When irrigating, apply no more than 1” of water per week (including rainfall). Adding a rainfall controller to your irrigation system can help to prevent irrigating when it’s raining.
- Apply no more than ½” of water in any irrigation cycle.
- Irrigation systems should be run twice a week, although 3 or 4 times in a dry mid-summer may be needed. If running more than 2 cycles, reduce each application of water to stay within the 1” per week limit.
- Water pressures can differ depending on where in the village you live, and irrigation systems are not designed to all work in the same way. Testing your system to understand the rate that water is being applied is a good idea.
- Using empty tuna fish cans (or similar), place cans around your yard and run the system for 15 minutes. This will give a clear view of how much water is being applied and whether or not it is being evenly applied.
- Using short cans can result in water splashing out of the can. A taller can is better.
- Example #1: if after running your system for 15 minutes you see ¼” in the can, then you should run your system for no more than 30 minutes.
- Example #2: if after running your system for 15 minutes you see ½” in the can, set your system to run for no more than 15 minutes.
- Example #3: if you see uneven results in the cans on the same watering circuit, you may have a plugged nozzle or need to have the nozzle changed (larger or smaller) to adjust the flow rate.
- For healthy grass, water the root zone thoroughly, but not below the root zone.
- Regarding timing, don’t water during the period when dew is on the grass. Watering during this time tends to extend the dew period and promote fungal growth. Recommended timing is 3am-6:30 am. If the irrigation cycle has not completed by 6:30am, then restart at 10am and finish before noon.
- On steep slopes, run the irrigation system with multiple short cycles to reduce water run-off.
If you want to understand in greater detail how to care for your lawn, a soil test is a good idea. I’m sure there are multiple places in the area to get this done, however I’ve used SiteOne Landscape Supply with good results. Dig up about 1 pound of dirt in total from your lawn in 5-6 different spots and take it to them. The test costs about $24 and they will give you results in a couple of weeks. This link shows the types of tests that are performed: http://spectrumanalytic.com/help/. You can reach SiteOne at 865-984-4652, 2128 W Lamar Alexander Pkwy, Maryville, TN 37801-3508.
There is a useful video on TV Broadcasting that was made in August 2018 about lawn care management. It’s an interview with one of the turf grass experts from UT Knoxville. Here is the link: https://vimeo.com/287664463
While our ability to see each other at HOA Social gatherings is currently limited, please feel free to send me a note if you have any issues or concerns that I might be able to help with.
Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you.
Mark Pantley
HOA VP of Advocacy
mark.pantley@gmail.com
(832) 654-1272