Kansas City’s Lawns and Landscapes will benefit dramatically if you know how to properly water them. There is no other homeowner controlled aspect of caring for your plants more critical than proper irrigation. It is also the number one mistake I see Kansas City homeowners doing
It is essential to first understand what your plants want in an ideal world. Most of our lawns and landscapes in Kansas City will thrive on 1.5” of water per week. This can come from either rainfall or irrigation. Ideally 1.5 inches would be applied in one long and slow watering. However, in Kansas City, our clay based soils have a hard time absorbing more than ½ inch of water per hour before water begins to run off the surface so we have to water very slowly – hard for sprinklers to do – or water on multiple days in smaller amounts. Counter intuitively, we want these watering cycles to be on successive days, not spread evenly through out the week since our goal is to water deep into the ground and not to keep the surface moist.
Knowing how much water we need is the first step – the next step is knowing how to apply that water and for how long. Most homeowners will either be applying water by manual sprinklers or an automatic irrigation system. Both require you to know how much water is applied in a given amount of time by your system.
To measure the output of your sprinkler heads…
- Set a container with straight sides (I use a butter dish) in the middle of the sprinklers path. a Turn on the sprinkler and monitor the amount of water in the container.
- Turn off the sprinkler when the amount of water in the can has reached one inch (measure with a ruler – it can be deceiving)
- This is how much water that sprinkler system puts out in one hour.
Now, I know most of you will not take the time to accurately measure out your sprinklers output – despite its importance. So here are some rules of thumb for determining your sprinklers output. For automatic irrigation systems – spray heads (the ones that pop up and don’t move) typically need about 45 mins to put down 1” of water and rotors (the ones that sweep back and forth) need about 2 hours. So a generic program that I suggest for my customers is designed to put down 1.5” of water spread between 3 separate watering cycles. I set it so that the lawn gets watered Monday, Tuesday and Friday. This is a good compromise of watering deeply but also making sure that the water does not run off.. I set zones with spray heads to come on for 30 mins and zones with rotors to come on for 60 mins. This is adjusted if the soil is unable to absorb this amount of water. Also, all watering should be done to supplement mother nature. If she gives us ½” of rain then you can reduce watering by that amount.
For those of us unlucky souls who do not have automatic irrigation it takes a much longer to water our lawns. Most of the typical impact sprinklers used if set on full circle put out about 1/3 of an inch per hour. Since they water slower they can be left on longer. I usually suggest you water twice a week for 2 hours before moving the sprinkler. If you are only using the sprinkler in a half circle then you can cut that in half
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Rain Gardens can be a great way to solve landscaping problems in Kansas City. landscapers can use them to effectively deal with drainage issues that have been plaguing homeowners for years and are often better solution than simply sending the water further down the hill to the neighbors yard.
Here is a concept rendering for a rain garden I will be installing soon in a customer’s landscape. I will chronicle this build and update the blog with its progress including before and after shots.
If you have any questions about rain gardens please be sure to leave a comment and I would be happy to share what I know,.
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It is time for Kansas City Landscapers to prepare for the heat. Weather forecasts are showing that Kansas City will soon be hitting 90 degrees for the first time this year. This tends to be a tipping point for the lawns and landscapes.
You can help your landscaper and lawn care service by taking care of your lawns watering needs.
New Trees or Plants
Water new trees or plants when the top 3″ of the soil dries out completely. Water the plants slowly and deeply allowing the entire root system to become soaked. larger plants take more time.
This is very important. You cannot give a time to water because every soil will absorb water at a different rate. The goal is to water the plants entire root system and then let the entire roots ystem dry out just before adding new water.
Lawns
Lawns should be water with 1″ of water per week. This is best done with one long slow watering if your soil will absorb that much water. Most Kansas City lawns will do just fine with one long irrigation. Depending on the type of sprinkler being used — This may require up to 1 hour of watering. It is best to measure the water rather than guessing. I use a straight sided margarine tub placed int he middle of the sprinklers path to tell.
Watering is an essential part of maintaining your landscapes. It does not have to be difficult but it does have to be consistent and done correctly. If you have any watering questions feel free to leave a comment to this post and I would be happy o help you out.
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This spring has been a landscaper in Kansas City’s dream. All the plants are doing well with mild temps and ample rain. The only negative so far has been that all the rain has made it nearly impossible to do landscaping or lawn care work. It is just been too wet.
As Charles Dickens would have said “It has been the Best of Springs - It has been the Worst of Springs”
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This is on of my favorite trees to plant in Kansas City. ‘Emperor I’ is very similar to ‘Bloodgood’ in growth habit, although this tree has a lighter almost translucent quality to the leaves. It holds its red color well throughout the summer months, and has a brilliant crimson fall display. It grows to about a maximum of 15 feet tall and 7 feet wide. This tree does very well in Kansas City landsapes. it does best if protected from hot afternoon sun.
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April 15th, 2008
clover . lawn . weed
Clover is a common weed in Kansas City Lawns. It spreads rapidly by stolons or above ground roots structures. The plant takes root from the stolons at nodes along the stems when they come in contact with the soil. Clover is one of the most easily identified of the common weeds in Kansas City. It tends to grow in dense patches in lawns that are not especially thick. It needs consistently moist ground to survive and prefers soils low in nitrogen. It has white or slightly pink flowers during late summer and early fall. The flowers are a favorite of bees and other nectar sucking insects.
The best way to prevent clover is with good cultural practices that promote a thick healthy lawn. Fertilizing and caring for your grass year round will make any other control of clover unnecessary.
To control clover chemically, use any product that contains 2-4d and carfentrazone. As important as the herbicide when spraying clover, is the use of a great spreader/sticker. Clover has a very waxy film over its leaves that can make control hard if the proper additives are not used.
Kansas City lawns do not need to have clover if they are well cared for and taken care of.
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Landscapes in Kansas City will soon be hitting the deep freeze. Well, maybe not the deep freeze. However even with temperatures reaching down into upper 20’s — it is important to have all the information necessary.
First of all this is not at all like the freeze of 2007 — although the dates are not that different. The difference lies in the weather of March. In 2007, Kansas City’s weather was unseasonably warm. Plants were a good 3 - 4 weeks ahead of normal development. Last year I already had Iris blooms poking up in my yard. This year, I barely have leaves coming through last falls leaves. Freezing temperatures this weekend will only be a slight problem for landscapers and homeowners in Kansas City.
Different plants will need different amounts of care this weekend.
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It’s hard to believe that the killing April freeze of 2007 was one year ago today in Kansas City. It devastated so much of Kansas City landscaping. Many of the trees and shrubs that were hurt never recovered. Japanese Maples were one of the most dramatically effected plants. Most of the maples died back considerably and did not look good last year. I recommended that most of my customers wait until fall and then cut back the dead wood and see how they look. However, it has become apparent that most of them will lose there attractiveness and it will take years until they look good again. Most people will end up replacing them.
Japanese maples are still good choices for Kansas City landscaping. The combination of climatic features that led to the April freeze were rare and will likely never happen to that degree again.
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This week’s weed of the week is henbit. Henbit, Lamium amplexicaule, is a winter annual. Right now Henbit is growing and showing itself in Kansas city. Some defining characteristics of henbit is square stems, and a pink to purple flower. The leaves are round to heart-shaped with a rounded tooth leaf margin. Henbit can develop stems up to sixteen inches in length. Henbit can be frustrating for homeowners because it is often the one of the first weeds they see and it also is most prolici when Kansas city lawns are at their weakest. A good fertilization and lawn care program will help keep henbit out of your lawn.
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