Watering information - Strong Lawns
Watering your lawn is probably the most common maintenance you will do throughout the year. There are a couple of main things that should be taken into account to train your lawn to be healthy and strong.
Check out this online lawn training presentation for Townsville if you want to know more about Strong Lawns.
Why? With Townsville's soils being predominantly very clayey (apart from the coastal suburbs) it is important to apply water slowly and evenly to reduce runoff and to get the water deep into the soil so the roots can follow it, the deeper the roots the more your lawn will be resitant to heat stress and drought.
Frequency: Deep infrequent waterings are best, what does this mean? In Townsville twice a week (at most) in the dry and never when it's wet.
Amount: The average Townsville lawn needs about 25mm of water a week (slightly more during hot and dry summer days, and slightly less during the cooler winter days), an indication how long you will need to water using hose-end sprinklers is given in the table below.
Sprinkler Name/Type | Image | Litres per minute* | Coverage Area | Application rate mm/h | Time to apply 25mm/m2 |
Wobble-T | 12L/min | approx. 190m2 | 3.8mm/h | Place 2 or 3 containers in the coverage area. Record the time it takes for the container to be filled to a depth of about 25 mm.
This time will be reflective of the time it will take to optimally water your lawn. |
|
Rotoframe 1/2" | 19.2L/min | approx. 79m2 | 14.7mm/h | ||
5 Function Sprinkler | 17.4L/min | approx. 64m2 | 16.41mm/h | ||
Canberra Sprinkler | 18.8L/min | approx. 113m2 | 9.97mm/h | ||
Partner (or Rose) sprinkler | up to 24L/min | approx. 28m2-50m2 | 26.74 - 50.29mm/h | ||
Handy Sprinkler | 34.6L/min | approx. 50m2 | 41.3 mm/h | ||
Tractor Sprinkler | 13.8L/min | approx. 50m2 (stationary) | 26.74mm/h | ||
Rotary Sled Sprinkler | 6.9L/min | approx. 79m2 | 5.27mm/h | ||
3 Arm Sled Sprinkler | 19.4L/min | approx. 50m2 | 23.16mm/h | ||
Rainwave | 18.1L/min | approx. 168m2 | 6.46mm/h |