Rainwater harvesting/turf management training Friday
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service‘s Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program will host a residential rainwater harvesting and turf management training on Friday, July 8 for Jackson and Lavaca counties.
The training program will take place at the Knights of Columbus Hall, located at 321 U. S. Highway 77 South, in Hallettsville.
The free hybrid program will be presented both as in-person and Zoom attendance event from 8:30 a.m to 12:30 p.m.
Online registration is required and attendees who RSVP to the event will receive updates, instructions to join the online meeting and materials related to the meeting via email.
Those interested can RSVP online or contact John Smith, AgriLife Extension program specialist, of College Station at john.smith@ag.tamu.edu or 979-204-0573.
The training program is being offered in collaboration with the Lavaca River Watershed Partnership.
“The Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program aims to improve and protect surface water quality by enhancing awareness and knowledge of best management practices for residential landscapes,” Smith said.
Rainwater Harvesting
The program will include a presentation by Becky Bowling, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension urban water specialist, of Dallas.
She said attendees will learn about the design and installation of residential rainwater harvesting systems as well as appropriate turf and landscape species based on local conditions and other practices.
“Management practices such as using irrigation delivery equipment, interpreting soil test results and understanding nutrient applications can help reduce runoff and make efficient use of applied landscape irrigation water,” Bowling said.
Another presenter will be Dean Minchillo, AgriLife Extension program specialist of Dallas.
He said proper fertilizer application and efficient water irrigation can protect and improve water quality in area creeks and collecting rainwater for lawn and landscape needs reduces storm water runoff.
Emily G. Monroe, watershed coordinator for the Lavaca River Watershed, will also discuss updates on Lavaca River watershed protection plan activities to improve and protect water quality in this watershed during the event.
Soil testing
As part of the program, participants can have their soil tested.
The soil sample bag and analysis are free to Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program participants.
Residents can pick up a soil sample bag with sampling instructions and the Urban and Homeowner Soil Sample Information Form at the event or from the AgriLife Extension offices in Jackson County at 411 N. Wells, Suite 111, Edna or in Lavaca County at 300 S. La Grange St., Hallettsville.
Bags containing residents’ soil samples should be returned to the location where they were obtained prior to or by one week after the meeting, or soil samples can be brought to the training.
Please do not mail the soil sample to the lab.
Samples will be grouped into one submission and sent to the AgriLife Extension Soil, Water and Forage Testing Lab in College Station for routine analysis, including micro-nutrients, pH, conductivity, nitrate-nitrogen and other parameters.
The training will include information on how to understand soil test results and nutrient recommendations so residents can interpret results once the analysis is mailed to them.
Funding for the Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program is provided in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreements (99614621, 99614624) to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The project is managed by the Texas Water Resources Institute, part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.
Contact:
• John Smith, 979-204-0573, johnwsmith@tamu.edu
• Dr. Becky Bowling, 972-952-9673 bgrubbs@tamu.edu
• Dean Minchillo, 972-231-5362, dean.minchillo@ag.tamu.edu
• Dr. Vanessa Corriher-Olson, 979-458-3562, vacorriher@ag.tamu.edu