It's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. You're right, sometimes when timing with rain, it washes out... and sometimes it doesn't end up raining at all. I do a decent amount of hand watering/individual sprinkler work.

 

I spray urea. ..37lbs of N per 1 k. Try to do it before rain or I use the rain train the next morning to rinse off

 

Hand water here and it sucks. I use mainly liquids and for fertilizer I put it down three days before the rain so hopefully the humidity will break it down enough not to get washed away

 

First time poster... long timer lurker.

I too struggled with this for a long time as I live in Coastal North Carolina and we are subject to either massive afternoon monsoons or extended dry periods. For the last couple of years I have started spoon feeding the granular (GreenTRX) at .25lb/k of lawn every 7-14 days (depending on rain)so that when I do get a monsoon of a rain very little product is wasted and the plant can hopefully absorb before it begins to leech out. I also hit the lawn with liquid foliar fertilizer (Haymaker from TSC) with each PGR app to provide additional nutrients in between the granular applications. This has proven to work extremely well for me and has built a stronger more resilient yard.

As for sprinklers its a variety of manual sprinklers and a couple hundred feet of hose so I almost never use sprinklers to water in my products.

 

I try to time with rain in most cases and when the expected rain doesn't arrive I'll drag the hose out if I am concerned. With the fertilizer I use (GreenTRX) I don't sweat it if it just sits for days without getting watered in, normal dew accumulation actually seems to break it down pretty well. For everything else that is sprayed I have never seen any adverse affects from not watering in, everything seems to work just fine waiting on rain or just getting absorbed at its own pace.

 

Hand water here

Same here

and it sucks. I use mainly liquids and for fertilizer I put it down three days before the rain so hopefully the humidity will break it down enough not to get washed away

Again, same. It does suck on a large property. Takes me three days to water the property, rotating sprinklers, and keeping the well running and not cycling. It's annoying, but cheaper than what I need to do to put in a suitable irrigation system.

I find I get far better results with liquids than granulars on everything. The one exception is I like the lowes sunniland blue bag with micros. I usually try to put it down when it's going to be dry for a while.

I know there is plenty of debate on whether it is helpful or not, but I do believe that adding humic acid into the mix last year helped my soil retain water better between rains. Humic I like granular, but mainly because the liquid made the seals in my hose end sprayer swell up.

 

For a 4k lawn, why not just put in irrigation? Personally I wouldn't go beyond putting out fertilizer once or twice a year, and pre-emergent without irrigation.

 

For a 4k lawn, why not just put in irrigation? Personally I wouldn't go beyond putting out fertilizer once or twice a year, and pre-emergent without irrigation.

Why not? Budget.
2x year? Lol.

 

For a 4k lawn, why not just put in irrigation? Personally I wouldn't go beyond putting out fertilizer once or twice a year, and pre-emergent without irrigation.

Why not? Budget.
2x year? Lol.

Right, that's what I'm saying. If budget is the issue, why waste all that product and then not give your grass the water it needs? If budget IS the issue, then put out minimal product.

If you're a do it yourselfer, its probably $900-$1200 to do a whole system. Not trying to be a jerk, but if thats a lot of money, having a fabulous lawn is probably not in the cards for you. I probably spend $300-$400 a year in chemicals alone.

 

I say this as a guy who was no irrigation before. I should have put in irrigation before sod. Everybody wants sod first because its a big visual improvement right away.

 

For a 4k lawn, why not just put in irrigation? Personally I wouldn't go beyond putting out fertilizer once or twice a year, and pre-emergent without irrigation.

Why not? Budget.
2x year? Lol.

I think the point was that if it's completely un-irrigated (just relying on what falls from the sky) then investing a lot of money in chemicals might not garner you any better results than fertilizing a couple of times a year and putting down a yearly preE.

To your question tho, how about a traveling sprinkler, a few hundred feet of high quality hose, and a really nice hose reel? Eley is linked at the top and they make amazing hoses and hose reels that would make part of the task that much easier. At 4ksqft I think that method might not be too cumbersome.

 

For a 4k lawn, why not just put in irrigation? Personally I wouldn't go beyond putting out fertilizer once or twice a year, and pre-emergent without irrigation.

Why not? Budget.
2x year? Lol.

I think the point was that if it's completely un-irrigated (just relying on what falls from the sky) then investing a lot of money in chemicals might not garner you any better results than fertilizing a couple of times a year and putting down a yearly preE.

To your question tho, how about a traveling sprinkler, a few hundred feet of high quality hose, and a really nice hose reel? Eley is linked at the top and they make amazing hoses and hose reels that would make part of the task that much easier. At 4ksqft I think that method might not be too cumbersome.

This right here. I'm right up the street from you, @CLT49er, with a slightly larger lawn. I use a Gilmour pattern master sprinkler in the front in back and have a gear sprinkler to cover the one side of my driveway the sprinkler doesn't reach and it works. With our climate and weather, with the exception of two years ago, I generally only have to use my sprinklers once a month to supplement rainfall.

I use granular fertilizer, granular pre-emergents and liquid apps of micros and iron. I time everything to be in line with normal rainfalls and avoid putting anything down if a monsoon is expected. It works well for me and my lawn hasn't suffered and I don't waste product and it's had a minimal impact on my water bill. I really focus on getting my lawn thick and healthy during the cooler spring months and I switch to higher potassium/low nitrogen apps in summer to deal with stress.

 

Ive been using granular fert, iron & pre emergent. I'll take advantage of the rain if I can... But I've got a great portable sprinkler and I really don't mind moving it a few times for 30 minute shifts. We get rainfall pretty frequently so I rarely need supplemental water. I'll water a handful of times in the summer but typically just to water in product.

Permanent irrigation is great but really not necessary IMO. I think suggesting someone like me doesn't deserve a nice lawn because I don't want to spend money on irrigation is ridiculous... But whatever makes you feel macho :thumbup:

 

For a 4k lawn, why not just put in irrigation? Personally I wouldn't go beyond putting out fertilizer once or twice a year, and pre-emergent without irrigation.

Why not? Budget.
2x year? Lol.

I think the point was that if it's completely un-irrigated (just relying on what falls from the sky) then investing a lot of money in chemicals might not garner you any better results than fertilizing a couple of times a year and putting down a yearly preE.

To your question tho, how about a traveling sprinkler, a few hundred feet of high quality hose, and a really nice hose reel? Eley is linked at the top and they make amazing hoses and hose reels that would make part of the task that much easier. At 4ksqft I think that method might not be too cumbersome.

Wrong. You will get more rain in a year than your irrigation sprinkler could ever put out.

 

Ive been using granular fert, iron & pre emergent. I'll take advantage of the rain if I can... But I've got a great portable sprinkler and I really don't mind moving it a few times for 30 minute shifts. We get rainfall pretty frequently so I rarely need supplemental water. I'll water a handful of times in the summer but typically just to water in product.

Permanent irrigation is great but really not necessary IMO. I think suggesting someone like me doesn't deserve a nice lawn because I don't want to spend money on irrigation is ridiculous... But whatever makes you feel macho :thumbup:

Also I'm trying to plan for an irrigation this is not for the average diy dude this is an undertaking. That's the reason I haven't started yet. You definitely can have a nice yard without irrigation.

 

You can have a nice yard without irrigation.

I would question if you can have an "amazing yard by pros" without irrigation.

Some people are going to see a question like "what's the best way to do this thing that isn't a good idea" and answer that, and others of us are gonna say "save your money and do it right".

At the end of the day it will be up to him to decide for himself what's the best route to go.

 

Here's my Zoysia from last year. No irrigation. Of course I'd prefer it, but far from "necessary". Getting it set up/rooted is probably the biggest PITA sans irrigation.

 

Ok I stand corrected 😂

 

This thread has had me reading all day on the website provided in the irrigation section about the DIY sprinkler system. Rain train on my 8k takes a long time for it to get the full yard covered.

 

Ok I stand corrected 😂

It's definitely not easy, that's for sure. Throwing on a timer and measuring for head to head coverage to put down an inch, that's living.

Gonna have to be at my next house, no going back now.

 

There are a bunch of folks on here with very nice yards without a sprinkler system. I'd say it takes more effort than if I had a system installed, but it still looks good. Once I started giving my yard some K I was able to go 7 days before it started turning brown when no water was provided. So to say that spending money on "lawn stuff" is a waste if you don't have irrigation is a contradiction if that "lawn stuff" will help you get more out of the water you do or don't get.

 

There are a bunch of folks on here with very nice yards without a sprinkler system. I'd say it takes more effort than if I had a system installed, but it still looks good. Once I started giving my yard some K I was able to go 7 days before it started turning brown when no water was provided. So to say that spending money on "lawn stuff" is a waste if you don't have irrigation is a contradiction if that "lawn stuff" will help you get more out of the water you do or don't get.

Mow some lawns in the neighborhood and save up!

 

There are a bunch of folks on here with very nice yards without a sprinkler system. I'd say it takes more effort than if I had a system installed, but it still looks good. Once I started giving my yard some K I was able to go 7 days before it started turning brown when no water was provided. So to say that spending money on "lawn stuff" is a waste if you don't have irrigation is a contradiction if that "lawn stuff" will help you get more out of the water you do or don't get.

Mow some lawns in the neighborhood and save up!

NO! I'm too busy moving sprinklers

 

Well for all the good it's done me... guy who put in sprinklers skipped a couple heads in some vital places, but I'm gonna try and get it all squared away this year.

 

First time poster... long timer lurker.

I too struggled with this for a long time as I live in Coastal North Carolina and we are subject to either massive afternoon monsoons or extended dry periods. For the last couple of years I have started spoon feeding the granular (GreenTRX) at .25lb/k of lawn every 7-14 days (depending on rain)so that when I do get a monsoon of a rain very little product is wasted and the plant can hopefully absorb before it begins to leech out. I also hit the lawn with liquid foliar fertilizer (Haymaker from TSC) with each PGR app to provide additional nutrients in between the granular applications. This has proven to work extremely well for me and has built a stronger more resilient yard.

As for sprinklers its a variety of manual sprinklers and a couple hundred feet of hose so I almost never use sprinklers to water in my products.

This is my strategy as well. I also added Tournament Ready to my arsenal last year with GREAT results.