As I walk around my yard with my dog, I wonder about the impacts it has on my turf for the spring. Walking on frozen turf can have detrimental effects. During the spring and summer, we can walk on our lawns and turf fields with no damage. During the growing season, turf plants can recover from traffic through active regrowth. However, during the winter the turf is dormant and cannot recover from the damage until the spring.

Currently, most of the state is in at least a moderate drought, with many areas affected by severe, extreme, and even exceptional drought conditions. The Farmer’s almanac is calling for a cold, dry winter, again, so moving into that with drought conditions already could be devastating to our plants.

All lawn sprinkler systems, whether they are in-ground or above ground, have flaws.  Some of the biggest are gaps and overlaps.

Actually, a well designed irrigation system, or the use of above ground spray heads utilizes overlaps in the form of “head-to-head coverage”.  This involves water from one head spraying all the way to the adjacent head and vice versa.  Since twice as much water is applied near the head as is at the end of the water stream, an even amount is applied if the system has good head-to-head coverage.

Lawns need about one inch of water per week. During the hottest part of summer, they may need one and a half inches. Do you know how much water your irrigation system applies? Lawns require uniform watering so one area is not under watered while another is overwatered. Do you know if your system waters uniformly? Lawns are best watered deeply but infrequently. Do you know what this means and if you’re watering program meets this recommendation?

Currently most of southeast Nebraska is in the ‘Moderate Drought’ level on the drought monitor. As we move into the spring and summer we could see the drought continue and irrigation will be critical.