Evaluation of Irrigation Strategies for Establishment of Warm-Season Turfgrass Lawns.

Little research has been conducted investigating the irrigation demands of warm-season turfgrasses during establishment. Water management districts in Florida differ on recommendations for irrigation schedules for establishing home lawns. Establishment irrigation is characterized by an increase of applied water in the first 30 to 60 days compared to weekly or twice per week irrigation for maintenance after the establishment period. Field trials were conducted to test three irrigation strategies and two soil compaction levels on the establishment of four warm-season grasses to optimize and potentially reduce water use. ‘Empire’ zoysiagrass, ‘Floratam’ St. Augustinegrass, ‘Captiva’ St. Augustinegrass, and ‘Argentine’ bahiagrass were established in a split-split plot design on soil that is commonly used for new construction in southwest Florida. The three irrigation treatments applied include a 30 day establishment period (15-15), where plots were watered every day for 15 days followed by every other day for 15 days, a 60 day establishment period (30-30), where plots were watered every day for 30 days followed by every other day for 30 days, and a maintenance only (MO) irrigation treatment that was irrigated twice weekly from March until November and once weekly from December to February. The MO treatments received no additional irrigation during the establishment period. All treatments received ~12mm of cumulative water on days when irrigated. Both Captiva and Empire showed no significant differences in overall quality between the three irrigation treatments. For Floratam the 15-15 irrigation treatment and the 30-30 irrigation treatment both had higher overall quality ratings than the MO irrigation treatment. The 30-30 irrigation treatment for Argentine had higher quality overall than the MO irrigation treatment. There were no significant differences in total root length between compacted and un-compacted soil within each individual grass species. With this information an optimal establishment irrigation recommendation could be formulated to help reduce water use.