I recently was asked if the recommendation for watering lawn and landscape on TV in Albuquerque was applicable here. That is a hard question to answer with a yes or no. First is it applicable in Albuquerque? For about 80 percent of Albuquerque the answer is probably yes. Albuquerque is about 2,000 feet higher and further north in altitude and has a lower pan evaporation annual rate of 56 inches while Eddy County has an annual pan evaporation rate of 110 inches. Albuquerque is predominantly course soil while Eddy County is predominantly a loam or moderately fine soil. A large portion of Albuquerque lawns are cool season grasses of Fescue, Kentucky blue grasses, etc. with some warm season Bermuda grass. Eddy County is predominantly a warm season grass area; in fact I don’t recommend any cool season grass except for particular microclimate areas. The recommendation of 1,2,3,2,1 days a week works OK for Albuquerque for a mass media easy to deliver a message, even at my Dad’s house before he passed away I did not follow it. I only water his Bermuda lawn once a week but changed the duration instead of the frequency. Albuquerque does not get the intensity of UV radiation and heat that we do here.

In Eddy County on moderately fine soils with warm season grasses I recommend one watering a week April-June of one inch applied early in the morning 4 to 11 a.m. if possible. On sandy soils or light soils, all things being the same, apply three-fourths of an inch twice a week. June-August on moderately fine soils with warm season grasses water twice a week at one- to one- and a quarter-inches. On sandy soils twice to three times a week, depending on how many 100 plus days, at one- and one-fourth inches to one- and one-half. September to early November water the same as April to June. During a dry winter you need to water about once a month at three-fourths to one inch. Cool season grasses add one-half inch to the above recommendation plus in the afternoon 1-3 p.m. or so, water for a short period of time, 15 minutes for cooling not supplying water for growth every day.

I often get asked “how long should I water?” The answer is I do not know without knowing your soil type, topography, water pressure consistency and sprinkler output per minute. But you can find out how long real easy. Put out a water catchment device, I use tuna fish cans because they don’t fall over. A local medical doctor hot glued nails to the bottom of pill bottles to catch his water. Place them about two feet apart between your sprinkler heads and turn on your water for 10 minutes than measure each catchment device and take an average and divide that by the number of minutes. Then calculate how many minutes it takes to get an inch, and set your timer accordingly. At my house I get 43 Psi on the average it takes about one hour to get one inch. This is a real brief explanation.

For more information see: http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_h/h-504.html or http://aces.
nmsu.edu/pubs/_h/h-707.pdf or ask your extension office for publication H-110 and/or H-707.
Eddy County Extension Service, New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and educator. All programs are available to everyone regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, handicap, or national origin. New Mexico State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Eddy County Government Cooperating.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Woods E. Houghton is an Eddy County Agriculture Extension agent at 1304 W. Stevens, Carlsbad, N.M. 88220 Office phone: 575-887-6595. E-mail: whoughto@nmsu.edu. Web page: http://eddyextension.
nmsu.edu.)

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