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| 2005/7/8-10 [Science/Space, Recreation/Food] UID:38485 Activity:high |
7/8 Cut global warming by becoming vegetarian:
http://www.physorg.com/news4998.html
\_ Cut global warming with eco-friendly investments:
http://www.terrapass.com
\_ How does one know that the money we pay on purchasing these
passes actually goes to projects that reduce pollution, and these
projects actually have big enough of an impact to offset our
cars' pollutant output?
\_ Good question, and I don't have a good answer. I suppose you
could argue that you have a contract with them, so they're
obligated to follow-through.
\_ Cut global warming by turning off the water when you apply soap in
the middle of a shower. This saves water as well as the energy
needed to heat it.
\_ Not eating 1 pound of western beef saves more water than not
showering for 1 year, assuming 7 minute showers once per day
with a low flow shower head. "Raising one cow uses enough
water to float a destroyer"
\_ Just shooting yourself as soon as possible saves more water
and energy and cute little bacteria that you'd otherwise
spend your life stompin' on than you can possibly imagine.
I'll take mine medium rare, thanks. -John
\_ Uh, this is really poorly phrased. Not eating 1 pound of
beef doesn't save anything. That cow is still raised.
\_ Have you ever heard of supply & demand? Buying and
tossing one pound of beef doesn't do anything, true.
However, choosing to purchase less beef directly affects
demand, which will in turn affect supply.
\_ Are you serious??? Reference please? Thx.
\_ John Robbins Food Revolution, which had extensive
footnotes in that section. Note that it takes a lot
more water to raise cattle in the arid west, which is
why I said *western beef*. Here is a webpage that
discusses the topic (took me about 5 seconds with google):
http://www.vegsource.com/articles/pimentel_water.htm
Another one:
http://www.gentleworld.org/environment/environment.html
Oh look more:
http://www.farnellfamily.com/cfarnell/why/uses.html
Note that producing beef in arid climates takes more
than 2500 gallons/pound.
\_ Don't eat fruits either. Raising one plum tree uses
enough water to float a destroyer. We should eat only
cactus.
\_ Whatever
\_ Whatever indeed. Focus on one aspect of farming
(cattle) and ignore the rest.
\_ I think the pp was focusing on the fact that
raising 1 pound of meat consumes a lot more
water than raising 1 pound of fruit/vegetable:
http://www.vegsource.com/articles/factoids.htm
\_ Ah yes this is the exact reference
\_ The issue is not whether farming uses water.
Raising beef just uses orders of magnitude more
water for the same nutrional content. So one
water for the same nutritional content. So one
way to be environmental is not to eat beef, simple.
\_ Right. Another way is to eat only cactus and
not water-loving plants like rice and fruit.
Or, like John said, shoot yourself.
\_ can you be more disengenous? from the above
link: water req'd for 1 lb. of apples: 49
that's two orders of magnitude
less than the amt. req'd for beef. Eating
cactus vs. apples counts for nothing compared
to the simple act of not eating beef. -!pp, !op
\_ How much protein is in those apples?
If you want to grow, say, soy beans
it take 250 gallons per pound. I find
all of these sorts of arguments
disingenuous. Eat healthy. That means
some meat (but not a lot) in the diet.
Avoiding 1 lb of beef per week (say)
to substitute with 1 lb of apples is
beyond stupid. There are other factors,
too, like cooking, transportation (beef
needs freezing), pesticides, and so on.
Framing in terms of gallons/pound is
meaningless and idiotic.
\_ No it's not, it tells us how much water
beef takes. It also takes more of many
other resources such as fuel and space.
Why is disingenuous to look at the amount
of resources a certain diet takes? Meat
eating simply uses way more resources.
Now whether or not that matters to you
is a different issue, isn't it?
\_ The point here is that water
usage is not defined in a vacuum.
Looking at how much water a cow
drinks versus how much water a tree
needs is not too informative in
itself. So much more is involved in
growing, preparing, transporting,
and storing the foods. Is that
gallons/pound number derived by adding
in how many gallons it takes to grow
feed or is it just what the cow
drinks? How much of that water is
taken of the water cycle and in what
way? What other factors are involved?
\_ strawman. What you find disingenuous is
not a claim anyone made. It's idiotic
to replace one lb. of beef w/ one lb. of
apples. The gallons/apple was made to
refute above trolls nonsense about fruit
trees.
\_ What do you mean? If you don't eat
fruit you can save a lot of water.
\_ Then replace one pound of beef with
beans, or whatever combination of
non-MEAT vegetables/fruits diet you
desire. None of them will use as
much water to create the same
desire. None of them will use remotely
as much water to create the same
nutrition, and you know that.
\_ I am not sure 'energy' = 'nutrition'.
Maybe if we were herbivores it would
make more sense. There are indeed
lots of drawbacks to farming, fishing,
and so on. Looking at water use is
some sort of feel-good bullshit.
I can say it takes no (fresh) water to
raise a tuna. Therefore eat only
tuna and no apples.
\_ Don't forget all the water that is required to
maintain a healthy green lawn that no one ever
uses.
\_ http://www.backyardstyle.com/watering-guide.php
The average lawn uses 125 g/1000 sq. ft on a hot,
summer day. That's .8 oz. of beef/1000 sq. ft
during peak summer weather. Certainly, it helps
to reduce lawn watering, but compared to eating
beef, it's peanuts.
\_ How much water do spotted owls waste?
\_ 1) Read an excerpt or two from the jungle, or watch a couple
shorts about animal treatment, esp. re: antibiotics, hormones,
etc.
2) Next time you purchase raw meat at the grocers, look at the
meat, and remember (1) above.
3) Go and buy some vegetables. -!op
\_ How many rabbits are chopped up in the combine harvesters?
Better avoid bread.
\_ When the other side can come up only with pedantic crap,
that's a safe bet you've won the argument.
\_ So saying "you should avoid X to conserve Y" is a poor long-term
plan: if water is actually a scarce resource, it should be expensive,
and thus the beef should be expensive. If there's some reason it
isn't (government subsidies, perhaps?), the subsidies should end.
There's no reason the free market can't solve this problem... if
there is one. If there isn't, who cares how "wasteful" meat
production is? People aren't starving in the world because the US
doesn't produce enough food. |
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| www.physorg.com/news4998.html com Survey The survey takes less than two minutes, there's nothing to identify you p ersonally, and you won't receive any email or other sales pitches by par ticipating. Global warming could be controlled if we all became vegetarians and stopp ed eating meat. That's the view of British physicist Alan Calverd, who t hinks that giving up pork chops, lamb cutlets and chicken burgers would do more for the environment than burning less oil and gas. Striking research and developments * Electricity in a thermos * Berkeley Lab Wins Three R&D 100 Awards: Neural Matrix CCD, Optical So und Restoration System, Ion Mobility Analysis * Deep-sea jelly uses glowing red lures to catch fish * Scientists dispel the mystery surrounding Stradivarius violins * Study: Fertile women want dominant men * Vocal box holds key to ancient instrument * Does my dog really love me? News archive Writing in this month's Physics World, Calvert calculates that the animal s we eat emit 21% of all the carbon dioxide that can be attributed to hu man activity. We could therefore slash man-made emissions of carbon diox ide simply by abolishing all livestock. Moreover, there would be no adverse effects to health and it would be an experiment that we could abandon at any stage. "Worldwide reduction of m eat production in the pursuit of the targets set in the Kyoto treaty see ms to carry fewer political unknowns than cutting our consumption of fos sil fuels," he says. Only someone deprived of essential protiens could not see this one. If God had intended for us to be vegiterians he wouldn"t have made the animals out of meat. On 7-Jul-2005 by JavaTool QUOTE If God had intended for us to be vegiterians he wouldn"t have made the animals out of meat. gif We don't need animals for essential proteins, as there are alternatives ( eggs, peanuts, beans, dairy products). Meat eating is completely optiona l, and though I myself am not a vegetarian (too weak-minded to cut off m eat forever), it wouldn't hurt to at least reduce the amount you consume . On 7-Jul-2005 by Hoodwink We don't need to eat meat every day or even every meal. It's also a good idea for the environment and for the coming energy crisis. On 7-Jul-2005 by Guest QUOTE (JavaTool @ Jul 7 2005, 04:07 PM) We don't need animals for essential proteins, as there are alternatives ( eggs, peanuts, beans, dairy products). Meat eating is completely optiona l, and though I myself am not a vegetarian (too weak-minded to cut off m eat forever), it wouldn't hurt to at least reduce the amount you consume . On 7-Jul-2005 by Nook1e We would be cutting co2 emissions but we would also be cutting thousands maybe even millions of people off from their income source. Just think a bout it, the farmers would have to reorient all of their fields to grow crops not to herd some animals. The processing plants would shut down an d a lot of small and big businesses would go bankrupt Its like saying "lets stop using computers to reduce the power consumptio n" Although... smaller changes might be beneficial Read all 13 posts Reply / Comment You do not need to be registered to post your comments. |
| www.terrapass.com finance projects that reduce industrial carbon diox ide emissions. Your TerraPass purchase is certified to eliminate the equivalent of your cars carbon dioxide pollution, helping to preserve the environment for future generations. What People are Saying Think of it as Kyoto for commuters. makes it possible to combat global warming in the same fashi on that buying Fair Trade Certified Coffee makes it possible to combat t he inequities of globalization: through your purchase decisions. |
| www.vegsource.com/articles/pimentel_water.htm March 1, 2001 -- To date, probably the most reliable and widely-accepted water estimate to produce a pound of beef is the figure of 2,500 gallons/pound. Newsweek once put it another way: "the water tha t goes into a 1,000 pound steer would float a destroyer." Not surprisingly, the beef industry promotes a study that determined, usi ng highly suspect calculations, that only 441 gallons of water are requi red to produce a pound of beef. Thus , study authors reasoned these waters were not "lost" but "recycled" and therefore could be subtracted from gross amount of water actually used in beef production. Of course, evaporation and cow dung don't go very fa r in replenishing water pumped from acquifers which took thousands of ye ars to fill. Simply put: it's wasteful and irresponsible to squander our precious reso urces on a luxury item like meat. The only question we're left with is: just how wasteful and irresponsible is it? Once again, our intrepid investigator, John Robbins, recently uncovered s ome startling new evidence. That evidence comes in the form of a scholar ly new book which sheds new light on the subject. Edited by David Piment el and others and published in January, the book is titled Ecological In tegrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation and Health (Island Press, Washington DC, 2001). Pimentel is a celebrated professor of ecology and agricultural science at Cornell University, who has published over 500 scientific articles, 20 books and overseen scores of important studies. Professor Pimentel explained of his calculations that: the data we had indicated that a beef animal consumed 100 kg of hay and 4 kg of grain per 1 kg of beef produced. Using the basic rule that it t akes about 1,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of hay and grain, thus about 100,000 liters were required to produce the 1 kg of beef. The USDA lists one pound of potatoes as containing 288 calories. To get roughly the same amount of calories from potatoes as you do from a pound of beef, you would need 415 pounds of potatoes. So that's 249 gallons of water for 415 pounds potatoes versus 12,009 gal lons for the pound of beef -- in order to get the same number of calorie s from the two foods. In short, it takes nearly 50 times more water to p roduce a calorie from beef as it does from potatoes. Is it sustainable, even in light of the cash subsidies, super-low water p rices, free or low-cost grazing on public lands, and the other enormous welfare handouts the meat industry receives from government, in order to keep the price of meat artificially low? How, as a vegetarian, do you feel about paying astronomical water rates w hen your lifestyle choices mean you're likely consuming a fraction of th e water each month that your meat-eating friends are guzzling each day? |
| www.gentleworld.org/environment/environment.html "A reduction in beef and other meat consumption is the most potent single act you can take to halt the destruction of our environment and preserve our natural resources. Whats healthiest for each of us personally is also healthiest for the life support system of our precious, but wounded planet." JEREMY RIFKIN President of The Foundation on Economic Trends author, Beyond Beef, Dutton, New York Water required to produce 1 lb. Hu mankinds profligate consumption of animal products has made a significan t contribution to all of these ills, and it stands as the leading cause of many of them. Certainly these problems wouldnt disappear overnight if the world suddenly became vegetarian, but no other lifestyle change cou ld produce as positive an impact on these profound threats to our collec tive survival as the adoption of a plant-based diet." HOWARD LYMAN ex-cattle rancher, international lecturer, author, Mad Cowboy "So much more efficient is a vegetarian diet that less than one half the current agricultural acreage would be needed... We would not have to cut down forests and destroy habitats to create land on which to grow feed for livestock. We wouldnt have to force our acreage and squeeze every last possible yiel d from it. We could dispense with synthetic fertilizers and toxic pestic ides, and still have vast surpluses of food. Our world would be a far greener one, with far less pollution, cleaner ai r, cleaner water and a more stable climate." JOHN ROBBINS American author Pulitzer Prize Nominee for Diet for a New America, author, The Food Revolution, Conari Press 2000 "Today about 13 billion cattle are trampling and stripping much of the vegetative cover from the earths remaining grasslands. More than 60 percent of the worlds rangeland has been damaged by over-grazing during the past half century." JEREMY RIFKIN President, The Foundation on Economic Trends, author, Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture "It is increasingly obvious that environmentally sustainable solutions to world hunger can only emerge as people eat more plant foods and fewer animal products. To me it is deeply moving that the same food choices that give us the best chance to eliminate world hunger are also those that take the least toll on the environment, contribute the most to our long-term health, are the safest, and are also far and away the most compassionate toward our fellow creatures." JOHN ROBBINS American author, Pulitzer Prize Nominee for Diet for a New America, author, The Food Revolution, Conari Press 2000 Amount of greenhouse-warming carbon gas released in one day by driving a typical American car: 3 kilograms Amount released by clearing and burning enough Costa Rican rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger: 75 kilograms Next to carbon dioxide, the most destabilizing gas to the planets climate is methane. Concentrations of atmospheric methane are now nearly triple what they wer e when they began rising a century ago. "Livestock account for 1520% of global methane emissions." |
| www.farnellfamily.com/cfarnell/why/uses.html U S E S O F W A T E R There are many, many ways that we use our water, Seattle Locks Seattle Locks Photo courtesy of US Army Corps of Engineers and that is partly why it is so important that we conserve our water. Humans, plants , and animals are made up of mostly water. We use water for drinking, washing, cleaning, co oking, and growing our food as well as many, many other things. The aver age American uses around 150-250 gallons of water daily. Even more water is used by industries to generate electricity, manufacture things, and transport people and goods. The average toilet uses about 5 gallons of wate r per flush. Washing mac hines use an average of 25 gallons per load. The kitchen sink takes roug hly 20 gallons per day for preparing food and washing dishes. The bathro om sink, used for washing hands, shaving and brushing teeth, requires ab out 15 gallons per day. These numbers are estimated for the average hous ehold in America. com Much of our fresh water is also used outdoors for watering lawns, flower beds, and vegetable gardens, as well as washing cars and filling swimmin g pools. We must be careful not to pollute the water that we use outside . Many people use chemicals on their lawns and gardens and then water th em with pure water. The water will wash the chemicals off of your plants and then run down a storm drain and go straight to the rivers and strea ms where fish make their homes. This kind of polluted water can kill fis h and wildlife. We should always be mindful of whether or not we are pol luting the water around us. Cities use water f or fire fighting, street cleaning, and watering public areas such as par ks, grass, trees, shrubs, and flowers. Water is also used to fill public drinking fountains, including those at schools and libraries. All of th e different businesses in your community also use water. Think about all the water that is used by restaurants, hospitals, laundries, dry cleane rs, golf courses, hotels, car washes, beauty shops, barber shops, gas st ations, and health clubs as well as all of the other businesses in town. These all add up to quite a big demand on Washington's water supply. We need to try to think about how many people need to use water and conser ve our water so that there is enough to go around. When we think of water on a farm, we think of watering crops; com but the amount of water needed on a dairy farm is a huge amount also. Chi ckens, pigs, sheep, and all the other animals in a farmyard need drinkin g water to stay alive. Food must be grown for them to eat, and water is also required in the cooling systems used to keep production meat fresh. irrigation, farmers can conserve up to 60% of the water that it would no rmally take to irrigate their crops using other systems of irrigation. It takes about 26 gallons of water to produce one ear of corn while it ta kes about 2000-2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. Aroun d 120 gallons of water is required to produce one egg. About 300 gallons of water is needed to produce one loaf of bread, and it takes about 12, 000 gallons of water to grow a bushel of wheat. Believe it or not, about 1,400 gallons of water are used during the final production of one fast -food meal including a burger, fries, and a soft drink. turbines spin generating electricity that will be transmitted on the power lines to homes and businesses. Of all the electricity in the world, about 20% is generated by hydropower . About 10% of all the electricity in the United States is provided by h ydropower. Hydrop ower generating is clean and does not leave any waste. Because of the el ectricity generated by hydropower, the amount of oil and coal needed to produce enough electricity is reduced. It prevents the need to burn abou t 22 billion gallons of oil or 120 million tons of coal each year. hydroelectric plant produces depends on two things: how far the water falls and the quantity of water fallin g The higher the dam, the further the water falls and the more electric power produced. If the water falls twice as far, there will be twice as much electricity generated. The quantity of water that falls also affec ts the amount of power produced. Water is used to cool hot metal such as in the prod uction of steel. It is an important element in many pr oducts like chemicals, drugs, lotions, shampoos, cosmetics, cleaners, an d also beverages. Water is used in processing food and in innumerable fa ctories and industrial processes including the manufacturing of paper. W ater used in processing foods and beverages must be absolutely clean, wh ile other industries such as a manufacturing plant may use a lower quali ty of water. "In the early 1900s, American industry used about 10 to 15 billion gallons of water a day. With the huge growth in industry followi ng World War II, the industrial use of water also grew. By 1980, industr y was using about 150-200 billion gallons each day." com Recreation is another way that we use and enjoy Washington state's water. Many people enjoy fishing, boating, sailing, canoeing, rafting, and swi mming, as well as many other recreational activities that depend on wate r Most of us enjoy at least one of these activities and would be disapp ointed if we could never do any of them again. If our water is continual ly polluted though, then it could become dangerous to go swimming and al l of the fish could die so that no one could go fishing either. No one w ould enjoy boating, sailing, canoeing, or rafting in polluted water eith er. We need to remember that it is important to guard our waters from be coming polluted. Many people use boat s and ferries to commute to and from work every day. People also enjoy g oing on cruise ships or just going sailing. Water transportation has bee n a channel for growth in America, but that growth has not come without cost. The destruction caused by shipping includes fuel spills, which coa t the water with oil and coal dust, and erosion of the shoreline which c auses damage to the fish and other inhabitants of the water. Credits In 1980 the United States was using about 89 billion gallons of groundwat er every day. American industry used about 10-15 billion gallons of water a day in the early 1900s. This amount rose to around 150-200 billion gallons a day by 1980. About 25 gallons of water is required to produce one ear of corn. Somewhere between 2000-2500 gallons of water is required to produce one p ound of beef. A dairy cow must drink about 3 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of mi lk. Of all the electricity in the world, about 20% is generated by hydropower . About 10% of all the electricity used in the United States is generated b y hydropower. Electricity generated by hydropower prevents the need to burn about 22 bi llion gallons of oil or 120 million tons of coal each year. The amount of electricity generated by a hydropower plant is determined b y the quantity of water, and the distance the water falls to the turbine s Manufacturers use about 13 trillion gallons of water yearly in producing their products. Beaches, rivers, and lakes are the #1 vacation choice for most Americans. The commercial fishing and shellfishing industry relies on clean water to deliver products safe to eat. The average American will eat nearly 15 pounds of fish and shellfish in j ust one year. |
| www.vegsource.com/articles/factoids.htm "Studies indicate that vegetarians often have lower morbid ity and mortality rates Not only is mortality from coronary artery dise ase lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians, but vegetarian diets ha ve also been successful in arresting coronary artery disease. Scientific data suggest positive relationships between a vegetarian diet and reduc ed risk forobesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mel litus, and some types of cancer." Rounding that up to 100 gallons per week, in 52 weeks you would be using 5,200 gallons of water per yea r to take a daily shower. Comparing 5,200 gallons of water used by taking a 7 minute shower every d ay for a year, to the 5,214 gallons of water it takes to produce a pound of beef (using the estimate noted by water specialists at the Universit y of California, noted above), you realize that in California today, you can save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you will save by not showering for a year. Take your choice -- 4 hamburgers or a year's worth of showers? Pimentel of Cornell, you could go two years without a shower and still not save as much water as you would by not eating one pound of beef. Number of people whose food energy needs can be met by the food produced on 25 acres of land: If the land is producing cabbage If the land is producing potatoes If the land is producing rice If the land is producing corn If the land is producing wheat If the land is producing chicken If the land is producing milk If the land is producing eggs If the land is producing beef 23 people 22 people 19 people 17 people 15 people 2 people 2 people 1 person 1 person "In a world where an estimated one in every six people goes hungry every day, the politics of meat consumption are increasingly heated, since mea t production is an inefficient use of grain -- the grain is used more ef ficiently when consumed directly by humans. Continued growth in meat out put is dependent on feeding grains to animals, creating competition for grain between affluent meat eaters and the world's poor." "Although cattle grazing in the West has polluted more water, eroded more topsoil, killed more fish, displaced more wildlife, and destroyed more vegetation than any other land use, the American public pays ranchers to do it!" Their economic value is oriented not to ward helping subsistence farmers to feed themselves but toward feeding m ore livestock for the already overfed rich." sho ws that diets low in saturated fatty acids and cholesterol are associate d with low risks and rates of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease." They are all transmitted to human consumers through chickens and othe r animals raised in factory farms. In the filthy, cro wded pens, harmless microorganisms mutate into virulent pathogens. Routi ne use of antibiotics ensures their resistance to life-saving drugs. It makes one wax nostalgic for the good old days when meat eating was assoc iated only with heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and atheroscler osis" - WorldWatch journal. There is no controversy about where the antibiotic resistance in food-borne pathogens comes from(It) is due to the heavy use of antibiotics in livestock." Frederick J Angulo, epidemiologst in the food-borne and diarrheal disease branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1999. livestock manure ar e produced for every household in the country. We have strict laws gover ning the disposal of human waste, but the regulations are lax, or often nonexistent, for animal waste." Number of Californians whose drinking water is threatened by contaminatio n from dairy manure: 20 million (65% of the state's population). They graze off the native bluestem s and grama and bunch grasses, leaving behind jungles of prickly pear. T hey trample down the native forbs and shrubs and cacti. They spread the exotic cheatgrass, the Russian thistle, and the crested wheat grass. Eve n when the cattle are not physically present, you see the dung and the f lies and the mud and the dust and the general destruction. It will survive you and your children and your children's children. An irre versible attack on the biosphere is something so unheard of, so unthinka ble in previous generations, that I only wish that mine had not been gui lty of it." The bottom line, in my view, is that we are confronted with the most po werful technology the world has ever known, and it is rapidly being depl oyed with almost no thought whatsoever to its consequences" - Suzanne Wuerthele, toxicologist, US EPA "(Genetic engineering) faces our society with problems unprecedented, not only in the history of science, but of life on the Earth. It places in human hands the capacity to redesign living organisms, the products of s ome three billion years of evolutionup to now, living organisms have ev olved very slowly, and new forms have had plenty of time to settle in. N ow whole proteins will be transposed overnight into wholly new associati ons, with consequences no one can foretellGoing ahead in this direction may be not only unwise, but dangerous. Number of cows slaughtered as part of a US federal government program t o halt milk overproduction in 1986-87: 15 million Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in rBGH milk vs. normal milk: 2-10 tim es as much Risk of prostate cancer in men over 60 years of age with high levels of I GF-1 compared to men with low levels: 8 times greater Risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women with even small increases in blood levels of IGF-1 compared to women with low levels: up to 7 times greater According to FDA researchers, IGF-1 is not destroyed by pasteurization Increase in mastitis in rBGH-treated cows: 25% Increase in lameness in rBGH-treated cows: 50% Monsanto's suggestion to counter the bovine health problems related to rB GH use: Greater use of antibiotics. Email this article to a friend: Send this story to: Enter the e-mail address of the recipient. Add your own personal message: Enter your email address: Enter your name: Send It Note: You will also receive a copy of the email you are sending. |
| www.backyardstyle.com/watering-guide.php Resou rce Pages Lawn & Garden Watering Guide A luscious green lawn and healthy vibrant trees, shrubs and plants all ar e a sign of a well-tended yard. A beautiful flower or vegetable garden i s a wonderful complement to any home. These things are as much an invest ment in ones home as siding or shutters. One key to a world-class yard and garden is knowing how to water effectiv ely. Weather conditions, soil composition and the types of plants, shr ubs and trees you wish to grow all must be considered. Here is some info rmation about soil and watering strategies that can help you grow a gorg eous, green lawn and a bountiful flower or vegetable garden. Climate On a hot, sunny day in midsummer, the average lawn uses 125 gallons of wa ter per 1000 square feet. The same lawn on a cloudy day uses as little a s 10 gallons of water. Mature trees can consume up to 15 gallons of wate r per hour on a hot day. Any plant exposed to hot sun, low humidity and strong winds will evaporate large amounts of water that must be replaced or it will quickly die. Grass is particularly susceptible since 85 perc ent of a grass plants bulk is water. Plants A good drenching once or twice a week is better for your lawn than daily light sprinklings. Deep watering produces strong, deep root systems that can safely withstand drought. To help build such a root system, require s consistent, thorough soaking of the soil, to a depth of six to 12 inch es. An even, intermittent sprinkling over a period of hours is the best for deep penetration. A steady stream of water from the garden hose, for example, will only wet the surface and mostly will run off. Soil Type There are three distinct soil types clay, loam and sandy. Each has a diff erent ability to absorb water and therefore your watering strategy will be determined in part by the type of soil you have. Coarse sandy soil ha s large air spaces that quickly fill with water, but also lose water qui ckly to the subsoil, requiring shorter more frequent watering. Heavier c lay or silt soil has numerous smaller spaces that absorb water slowly an d hold it longer than sandy soil. Loam type soil falls in between, holdi ng water longer than sandy soil, but not as long as heavy clay soils. Most lawns need one to two inches of water per week, depending upon the c limate and soil conditions. In dry areas, a regular watering at least on ce a week is important to maintain good plant health. A slo wer rate of growth, changes in the color, the loss of resilience (such a s footprints showing in the grass) are all signs that the yard, shrubs o r trees need water. You also can check the soil two to six inches below the surface. If the soil is dry and crumbles easily, then it is time to water. The soil should always have time to dry between watering. Too frequent wa tering produces wet areas that make the plants susceptible to lawn disea ses, insects and drowned root damage. As the soil is left to dry fully, roots will grow deeper, looking for water below the surface. Roots need to absorb small amounts of oxygen from air spaces in dry soil and are wa rmed by the soil as it dries. Plants respond best when the water penetra tes below the top few inches of soil. Light watering produces shallow ro ots in the upper few inches of the soil, which causes them to dry quickl y In addition, many weeds have shallow roots that thrive on moisture ne ar the surface. Early morning is the best time because water pressure is high and the tem peratures are generally cooler. Less water will evaporate and it will so ak into the ground better. Late afternoon is the next best time, but be sure that it is early enough for the leaves to dry before full darkness. Watering at night is not recommended because the lawn and other plants stay wet for a longer time, which leaves them susceptible to lawn diseas es. Midday watering does not damage the plants, but in the hottest part of the day, a great deal of water evaporates before it soaks into the so il. In extremely high temperatures, the water falling on plant leaves ca n damage them. The general rule of thumb is one inch of water will soak deeply into the soil to a depth of about six to eight inches. One inch of water is equiv alent to 623 gallons per 1000 square feet. Water should be applied no fa ster than the soils ability to absorb it. If the water begins to run off before the inch has been applied, stop sprinkling until it is absorbed, then continue. The amount of time it takes to apply one inch of water per square foot yo ur lawn depends on the size of the hose, the water pressure and the type of sprinkler. There are number of ways to figure out just how much wate r your sprinkler applies. If you divide the number of gallons youve determined is needed for the area by the GPM of your sprinkler, you can figure out how many minutes of watering will be needed to perform the job properly. Turn the sprinkler on and watch the time it takes for an inch of water to gather in the glass. For the most accurate results, place a container at different locations in the sprinklers coverage area and average the results. This timer measures the actual water flow and is calibrated in 100 gallons. It can be set from 100 to 1500 gallons to give you the water needed for the square footage covered by the sprinkler. Use the formula above to determine the number of gallons needed. Keep track of the time it took and that is the amount of time it takes to water. Following these general guidelines will get you started on the right path to develop beautiful flower and fruitful vegetable gardens as well as a lawn that rivals any in your neighborhood. Experiment with what works best for you, keep good records and develop a regular watering schedule. Plant Watering Hose with Wand B & G Plant Watering Hose with Wand 18" curved spray wand offers an extended reach eliminating the need for hea vy watering cans and step stools. Also allows easy misting and watering of plants in hard-to-reach places indoors or out! Garden Hose Pot & Planter Our durable Garden Hose Pot keeps hoses nea tly coiled combining practicality and beauty. A convenient side-opening allows the hose to remain attached to the faucet during storage. |