Yes, it's still a drought (was: We are very much in a drought)

max_weisenfeld said:

RTrent said:

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

That is why we need to conserve water.

When we need to conserve water to the level where we no longer should water our lawns, then I'm sure the NJDEP will inform us and if need be mandate so.

The NJDEP asked us to stop watering our lawns two weeks ago. For a conservative, you seem unduly eager for a government mandate rather than taking personal responsibility.

What makes you think I'm a conservative? Comprehension issues?

Stupid comment anyway. I'm not eager for government mandate. What I said they may mandate if needed. Comprehension again?

I don't remember seeing any notice in the news about NJDEP asking us to stop. They asked us to reduce.

https://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2022/22_0809.htm

The public can make a big difference by reducing watering of lawns and
landscaping, reducing the washing of vehicles, and cutting back
nonessential uses such as hosing off driveways and sidewalks.


On August 9 a drought watch was in effect statewide. It was even mentioned on the town’s website, not sure if they also posted it on Facebook. So from the time I saw that, I decided to leave the lawn alone. I water my veggies with a can. But the cars look terrible with those few sprinkles that pass through sometimes, because the dust gets trapped in the surface. 
I actually see some people replacing their entire lawns right now, as I drive around Essex county. 


The return of “ The Fruited One”?


Anyone else remember this quote from the past?  If it is yellow, let it mellow.  If it is brown, flush it down.  It has been some years since we were faced with a drought in NJ.  Time to conserve now so we may not have to face such water conservation methods in the near future.


I am watering my lawn a bit (just by hand with a hose, not with sprinklers) as I want the grass to sleep, but not die -- some patches are going a bit too dry. I suspect that doing it this way is still a lot less water than using a regular sprinkler system (which the house came with, but which I never bothered to turn back on after shutting it off for winter).


PVW said:

I am watering my lawn a bit (just by hand with a hose, not with sprinklers) as I want the grass to sleep, but not die -- some patches are going a bit too dry. I suspect that doing it this way is still a lot less water than using a regular sprinkler system (which the house came with, but which I never bothered to turn back on after shutting it off for winter).

I have been showing my grass pictures of cacti and telling it to tough it out or be replaced.


PVW said:

I am watering my lawn a bit (just by hand with a hose, not with sprinklers) as I want the grass to sleep, but not die -- some patches are going a bit too dry. I suspect that doing it this way is still a lot less water than using a regular sprinkler system (which the house came with, but which I never bothered to turn back on after shutting it off for winter).

Isn't it possible to adjust your sprinkler settings?

My sprinkler system can be separately zone adjusted to the minute. I can also set each zone run interval by any day of the week or a skip daily interval from 1 to 29 days.

I recently bought a new controller which lets me do this.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rain-Bird-6-Station-Indoor-Simple-To-Set-Irrigation-Timer-SST600in/100633600

User manual:

https://images.thdstatic.com/catalog/pdfImages/80/8050af88-505d-4ea0-a843-e9f3f8654133.pdf

https://images.thdstatic.com/catalog/pdfImages/6f/6f053c32-072b-4ca2-8037-3711644f0fb1.pdf


tjohn said:

I have been showing my grass pictures of cacti and telling it to tough it out or be replaced.

I literally lol’d.


I spent a summer in San Ramon, California.  The grass on the hills around there survives the summer just fine.  Might not be the same grass we have in our lawns, but grass has evolved to be able it withstand pretty harsh conditions.


RTrent said:

Isn't it possible to adjust your sprinkler settings?


Probably. OTOH, if I can get away with never learning how to use a sprinkler system, that's fine by me ;-)


tjohn said:

I spent a summer in San Ramon, California.  The grass on the hills around there survives the summer just fine.  Might not be the same grass we have in our lawns, but grass has evolved to be able it withstand pretty harsh conditions.

Ha -- I have some in-laws in CA. I was saying that I've just decided to bring CA here for a visit instead of making the trek out there.


the local forecast is now showing a 46% chance of rain in afternoon.  Would not be the first time predicted rain didn't come or, more recently, the forecast of rain disappeared after a short while but I'll keep my hopes up.


Humidity is 47% but chance of rain in Maplewood this pm is only 23% according to the weather app on my computer.


This is from CNN:



    Grass is the single largest irrigated "crop" in America, surpassing corn and wheat, a frequently-cited study from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found. It noted by the early 2000s, turfgrass, mostly in front lawns, spanned about 63,000 square miles, an area larger than the state of Georgia.Keeping front lawn grass alive requires up to 75% of just one household's water consumption, according to the study, which is a luxury California is quickly becoming unable to afford as the climate change-driven drought pushes reservoirs to historic lows.

    Max, is it really going to rain almost all day Monday, August 22?????????


    Sunday Aug 21st

    Showers and thunderstorms probable on Monday, Aug 22 and also likely in the afternoon of Tuesday Aug 23.

    We are expecting unsettled conditions Monday and Tuesday the could lead to up to an inch of rain or more. While this will not be the steady slow rain over a couple of weeks that we really need, it will help a bit with the drought (the current rain deficit is over 4 inches).


    The models have really been all over the place with this set up (and I still couldn't give you accurate timing).

    For us gardeners it is sooo frustrating.  My phone app shows rain all day Monday at a half inch an hour!


    I’ve noticed after the droughts out west, that flash floods occur when it rains. Is it because of the sudden downpours? One would think the ground is so dry it would soak up the water quickly. It’s happening in Europe also. Lots of flash flooding after prolonged drought. 


    Jaytee said:

    I’ve noticed after the droughts out west, that flash floods occur when it rains. Is it because of the sudden downpours? One would think the ground is so dry it would soak up the water quickly. It’s happening in Europe also. Lots of flash flooding after prolonged drought. 

    Often it has gotten too hard to soak up the water.  


    sac said:

    Jaytee said:

    I’ve noticed after the droughts out west, that flash floods occur when it rains. Is it because of the sudden downpours? One would think the ground is so dry it would soak up the water quickly. It’s happening in Europe also. Lots of flash flooding after prolonged drought. 

    Often it has gotten too hard to soak up the water.  

    You can probably see this for yourself.  look at your property for a very dry dusty spot...  Get you water hose and put down a fairly heavy stream with out a spray head.  Most like you will even see the water bounce, pushing up little puffs of dust.  Runs right off!


    rcarter31 said:

    You can probably see this for yourself.  look at your property for a very dry dusty spot...  Get you water hose and put down a fairly heavy stream with out a spray head.  Most like you will even see the water bounce, pushing up little puffs of dust.  Runs right off!

    I never thought of that. Makes sense. I was thinking maybe it’s because the roots are gone from the grass out in the wilderness, and the sudden downpours just washes away the dried grass together with the soil, causing the flash flooding. I have seen videos of the beginning of flash floods where it’s a bunch of vegetation and debris in the front of the water gushing down some dried up creek. 


    We have noticed that the areas of our lawn where we applied compost have survived this drought MUCH BETTER than other areas.  Deeper roots is one reason.  The ground is softer in these areas even now. And we have watered our lawn only 3 times over the last 2 months.

    This is why, in my opinion, Maplewood needs to get back to composting leaves and making leaf compost available for purchase by town residents.  When we moved here in 1995, DPW would deliver a truckload of leaf compost for $25!

    This is a program that would pay for itself.  We are already spending a lot of money to truck leaves out of town.  Lawns that get compost  are both more drought-resistant AND more able to absorb rain when it comes, which would help mitigate flooding.


    jspjnc said:

    We have noticed that the areas of our lawn where we applied compost have survived this drought MUCH BETTER than other areas.  Deeper roots is one reason.  The ground is softer in these areas even now. And we have watered our lawn only 3 times over the last 2 months.

    This is why, in my opinion, Maplewood needs to get back to composting leaves and making leaf compost available for purchase by town residents.  When we moved here in 1995, DPW would deliver a truckload of leaf compost for $25!

    This is a program that would pay for itself.  We are already spending a lot of money to truck leaves out of town.  Lawns that get compost  are both more drought-resistant AND more able to absorb rain when it comes, which would help mitigate flooding.

    When and how thick did you apply compost?  We raked our leaves into our flowerbeds and ended up killing some new plantings because we put too many leaves on them and blocked the sunlight.  And plenty of leaves were left on the grass also.


    How do you apply compost to an established lawn?


    Re when and how to apply compost to a lawn:

    Fall is probably the best time, since that's the best time for root growth, plus, any weed seeds left in compost are less likely to germinate as weather cools down.  Spring is next best.

    You can certainly apply compost to an established lawn -- the grass loves it!  I try to do it right before a rain so all the beneficial bacteria etc. will get right down to the soil.  A half inch of compost is PLENTY -- you don't even need that much.

    We are home composters, so we rake our leaves off the lawn in the fall and store them in a pile next to our compost bins.  We put them in the bins in alternate layers with vegetable scraps from the kitchen -- about 3 parts leaves to 1 part kitchen waste.  I think it takes about 6 weeks to go from raw materials to usable compost.  You do have to turn the pile occasionally to get oxygen in there, and you have to keep it from getting bone dry.  It's amazing how much the volume reduces in this process.  About one-eighth the original volume.

    I leave the leaves in my flower and vegetable beds over the winter, and then pull them out of the beds bit by bit in the spring as the plants wake up.


    DanDietrich said:

    This is from CNN:



      Grass is the single largest irrigated "crop" in America, surpassing corn and wheat, a frequently-cited study from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found. It noted by the early 2000s, turfgrass, mostly in front lawns, spanned about 63,000 square miles, an area larger than the state of Georgia.Keeping front lawn grass alive requires up to 75% of just one household's water consumption, according to the study, which is a luxury California is quickly becoming unable to afford as the climate change-driven drought pushes reservoirs to historic lows.

      What do they do? Water every day? Have humongous lawns?

      I water once every four days, 1/2 in. Spring and Autumn, 3/4 in. Summer. My sprinklers use 22 to 24 thousand gallons a year. Total water usage is about 110,000 a year. 

      My average sprinkler usage is less than 25% of my total water usage. But I don't water when it rains and even after rain may skip the next watering. 

      Sometimes, I think these guys use selective statistics to prove a point. Or the up to 75% users are water hogs. Or up to means just that, the maximum for the hog users whereas the average user uses much less.

      Its easy enough to figure out. Just look at the water bills which are usually quarterly.


      DaveSchmidt said:

      tjohn said:

      I have been showing my grass pictures of cacti and telling it to tough it out or be replaced.

      I literally lol’d.

      Me too! 


      RTrent said:

      DanDietrich said:

      This is from CNN:



        Grass is the single largest irrigated "crop" in America, surpassing corn and wheat, a frequently-cited study from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found. It noted by the early 2000s, turfgrass, mostly in front lawns, spanned about 63,000 square miles, an area larger than the state of Georgia.Keeping front lawn grass alive requires up to 75% of just one household's water consumption, according to the study, which is a luxury California is quickly becoming unable to afford as the climate change-driven drought pushes reservoirs to historic lows.

        What do they do? Water every day? Have humongous lawns?

        I water once every four days, 1/2 in. Spring and Autumn, 3/4 in. Summer. My sprinklers use 22 to 24 thousand gallons a year. Total water usage is about 110,000 a year. 

        My average sprinkler usage is less than 25% of my total water usage. But I don't water when it rains and even after rain may skip the next watering. 

        Sometimes, I think these guys use selective statistics to prove a point. Or the up to 75% users are water hogs. Or up to means just that, the maximum for the hog users whereas the average user uses much less.

        Its easy enough to figure out. Just look at the water bills which are usually quarterly.

        110,000 gallons per year for grass.  Holy cow.


        DanDietrich said:

        110,000 gallons per year for grass.  Holy cow.

        It seems I may not have written it well. My total house usage is 110,000 yearly. The lawn accounts for less than 25% of that.


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