Tips for Watering your Commercial Property

Watering your commercial property is one big balancing act.  Some types of turf require more water than others, shady areas don’t need to be watered as often as sunny ones, and depending on weather patterns and the season of the year, you may have to water excessively or barely at all.  In order to have a lush, beautiful lawn, you have found the right balance.

Here are two simple equations that explain it:

Not enough water + grass = dead grass

Too much water + grass = dead grass

For most commercial landscapes, turf holds the most real estate and that’s where the majority of their watering is done.  A new lawn should be watered deeply for the first two weeks and then tapered down to shorter, less frequent waterings to encourage the roots to grow deeper into the soil.  By slowly tapering off the water supply, roots need to work harder and grow deeper, and deeper roots mean a healthier, hardier lawn, more able to survive in dry, humid times.

It’s best to water in the early morning hours and late afternoon.  Watering before most people are out and about will not only prevent your tenants and customers from getting an extra shower for the day, more water will get to your plants’ roots before the sun starts beating down on it and the temperature rises.  Water again in the late afternoon after the sun is past its peak hours. These waterings should be 8 minutes each which makes it easier for the turf to absorb the water instead of creating runoff as it would if you watered once for a longer time once a day.

Aside from watering your turf the correct amount, there are other steps you can take to ensure your lawn is getting the right amount of water.  First, have a water audit done. A commercial landscape company can inspect your property to make sure your irrigation system is in proper working order and is reaching everywhere that it should.

As part of your regular maintenance on your property, your landscape maintenance company should perform regular “wet checks” that include checking nozzles to make sure they’re not clogged or damaged, or pointing at a parking lot or a wall where they’re not needed.  Even though these are things that would be included in your water audit, it’s important to have them regularly checked because nozzles can break or get hit by equipment at any time.

If you have an older irrigation system, consider upgrading.  Retrofitting your old system with moisture sensors and other “smart” features will allow you to use the right amount of water and save you money.  It’s an investment that will pay for itself in water and energy savings.

Aeration should be done as part of your spring maintenance.  An aerating machine pulls “plugs” of dirt from the lawn which gives roots room to spread out, allows water to get deeper into the soil, reduces runoff, and reduces compaction.  It contributes to the overall health of your plants, and healthy plants are better equipped in fighting off disease, fungus, and pest infestations.

Water is something most people don’t think about.  It falls from the sky, it comes out of the faucet, and it’s in lakes and streams all around us.  It’s on tap virtually anywhere we need it to be, and rarely do people consider the work and ingenuity used to bring it to us.  At Bluegrass, we’re not like most people. We think about water all the time. As irrigation specialists, we know how important it is to use just the right amount of water in all the right places, not just so your landscape is green and vibrant, but so you’re not wasting energy and money on water you don’t need.  We can maintain your irrigation system so that it’s always in top working order and that it is giving your landscape the water it needs to be healthy and beautiful.