Turfgrass lawn and alternative “water efficient” landscape treatments being tested at the Urban Landscape Runoff Facility at Texas A&M University.
Landscape treatments consisted of the following:
1. St. Augustinegrass Lawn – (No conversion- established lawn) 6-year-old Raleigh St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) established atop of native fine sandy-loam soil and irrigated 2x weekly at 60 percent x reference evapotranspiration levels.
2. Xeriscaping - Native, water conserving drip- irrigated plants (50 percent of total plot area) including Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora), Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris), and Dwarf yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) established in 7.6 cm of compacted decomposed granite. Plants were irrigated twice a week at a rate of 0.8 L per time, according to a recommended rate of 0.23 L per day.
3. Water Efficient Landscape - Mulch - Native, water conserving drip-irrigated plants (50 percent of total plot area) including Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora), Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris), and Dwarf yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) grown in native fine sandy-loam soil and mulched with 5 cm of dark hardwood mulch. Plants were irrigated twice a week at a rate of 0.8 L per event, according to a recommended rate of 0.23 L per day.
4. Artificial Turf - Premium II (EPS Turf) unirrigated synthetic turf was installed atop of 5 cm of compacted decomposed granite base. Grit silica sand infill was incorporated into the artificial turf at a rate of 9.8 kg m-2
TPI Turf News September/October 2019
5. Sand-Capped Lawn - Washed Raleigh St. Augustinegrass sod laid atop of 10 cm of sand (medium-coarse concrete sand) plated over native fine-sandy loam soil. Irrigated 2x weekly at 60 percent x reference evapotranspiration levels.
Te two water-efficient landscapes are drip-irrigated, the two St. Augustinegrass treatments are overhead-irrigated, and the synthetic turf is unirrigated. Fertilizer is applied via drop spreader to the turfgrass plots, while fertilizer is liquid-applied via watering can to individual Texas sedge and dwarf yaupon holly plants within the xeriscaping and mulch plots.
Data collection include information on runoff dynamics, water usage, landscape quality, weed pressure, and canopy temperature. For peak flow and volumes, runoff characteristics are being evaluated for all naturally occurring rainfall events during the study. Peak flow rates as well as total runoff volumes from each landscape type are being compared to determine the influence of landscapes on runoff characteristics. Total runoff volume data was analyzed for all rain events. Hydrographs were created for one runoff event to future analyze the fate of runoff of each landscape. Additionally, runoff water samples are collected and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total suspended solids, Nitrogen (Total N, NO3-N, NH4-N, organic N), orthophosphate-P concentrations, and total organic C.
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While the project has only been in progress for 10 months, preliminary observations indicate that although installation of ‘water-efficient’ landscapes (comprised of
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