WateringTimesWatering plan, $19
Bassia prostrata 'Immigrant', WUCOLS IV

How often to water Immigrant forage kochia in California

In July on the north-central coast, established Immigrant forage kochia in loam needs a deep soak only about once a month or less: about 8.8 gallons each time for a plant 4 feet across. Immigrant forage kochia is a short perennial semi-shrub, about 9 to 18 inches tall, planted on western rangelands for winter forage and fire-resistant greenstrips. It is drought and salt tolerant and can establish on harsh, disturbed soils. Unlike the weedy annual kochia, it does not compete well with established perennial plant communities.

ShrubRated for 2 of 6 zones

How often to water Immigrant forage kochia, month by month

Your city
Plant width
4 ft
Your soil

Type your city above and the days between waterings and the gallons appear here, worked out from your city's climate table. Or read the figures by climate zone further down.

Every month, on your water days. The personal plan prints this for Immigrant forage kochia and the rest of your yard, on the days your water supplier allows.Get the plan for $19

How this is worked out: established roots fill the top 1.5 feet of soil, and you water again when that soil has dried halfway. Loam soil holds about 1.5 inches of water per foot. Water the whole area the plant covers, and skip a watering after a good soaking rain.

Which soil do you have?

Dig down a few inches, take a handful of moist soil and squeeze it.

  • Sandy: gritty, falls apart when you open your hand, will not form a ball.
  • Loam: forms a soft ball that crumbles when you poke it.
  • Clay: forms a firm, sticky ball and squeezes out into a ribbon between thumb and finger.

Still not sure? Pick loam. Most garden beds sit between sand and clay.

How to measure plant width

A shrub with its width marked from one side to the other and the circle under it shaded blue

Measure across the plant, from the tips of the leaves on one side to the tips on the other.

Water the whole area the plant covers, shown in blue. The gallons here cover that area.

A wider plant means more gallons each watering, not more waterings. While it is young, measure again each spring.

How to tell it needs water

  • Forage kochia staying green through a dry season needs no extra water
  • Seedlings failing on soggy, heavy ground point to too much water
  • Plants spreading onto bare, disturbed soil show normal behavior for this shrub
  • Thin stands on poorly drained ground point to excess moisture, not drought

How to water it

  • Water seedlings only enough to help them establish
  • Plant it on open rangeland or rural ground, including salty or alkaline soils
  • Use it as a greenstrip where it can reduce fuel loads
  • Let established plants live on rainfall
  • Seed it into disturbed areas where cheatgrass competes

Through the seasons

Help seedlings establish with occasional water if rain fails. After that it lives on very little water, and drought is its normal state. It provides forage into fall and winter, which is why ranchers value it for late-season grazing. Where it is grown in California, winter rain does most of the work. WUCOLS rates Immigrant forage kochia very low water on the north-central coast. The high desert carries a low water rating. WUCOLS has not evaluated it for the Central Valley, the south coast, South Inland or the low desert.

In pots

Immigrant forage kochia is a rangeland plant and is rarely grown in pots. If you raise seedlings in containers before planting out, use a gritty, well-drained mix. Water when the top inch dries, then let it drain fully. In summer, check every few days. Keep the saucer empty. Plant out early, since the seedlings are meant for open ground. In winter, water only if the mix dries.

1 Your climate zone six WUCOLS zones, each from its own reference city
Not ratedWUCOLS does not rate Immigrant Forage Kochia for the Central Valley zone
A year
no figure
Reference
Sacramento climate table
Counts
Plant need, before sprinkler losses

WUCOLS lists Immigrant Forage Kochia as not evaluated for the Central Valley zone, so no monthly figure is computed here.

Monthly water need by climate zone

Immigrant Forage Kochia: gallons per square foot per month, by WUCOLS climate zone

MonthN. CoastC. ValleyS. CoastS. InlandHi DesertLo Desert
Jan0.04–––0.3–
Feb0.05–––0.37–
Mar0.09–––0.58–
Apr0.12–––0.76–
May0.15–––0.95–
Jun0.16–––1.14–
Jul0.16–––1.22–
Aug0.15–––1.12–
Sep0.12–––0.86–
Oct0.09–––0.58–
Nov0.05–––0.37–
Dec0.03–––0.26–
Year1.2–––8.51–

How this is worked out: the WUCOLS water rating for each zone times that zone’s climate for the month. A dash means WUCOLS does not rate the plant there. The figures are what the plant uses, before sprinkler losses.

Plants with the same water needs 16

Rated not evaluated in the Central Valley, like Immigrant forage kochia. Plants that drink alike can share one valve and one schedule.

Formosa Sugar PalmArenga englerinot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingChilean Feather BambooChusquea culeou (C. breviglumis)not rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingBlackbrushColeogyne ramosissimanot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingGlaucous Scorpion VetchCoronilla valentina glaucanot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingWillowleaf CotoneasterCotoneaster salicifoliusnot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingMadagascar SagoCycas thouarsii (SHADE)not rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingIrish HeathDaboecia cantabricanot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingButterfly PalmDypsis lutescens (Areca)not rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingUmbrella BambooFargesia murielaenot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingBlue Fountain BambooFargesia nitida (Sinarundinaria nitida) (BAMBOO)not rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingPrickly HeathGaultheria mucronata (Pernettya mucronata)not rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingOtterbossieGossypium harknessiinot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingBox-leaved HollyIlex crenatanot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingBellyache BushJatropha gossypiifolianot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingMountain LaurelKalmia latifolianot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingBarbados CherryMalpighia glabranot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley rating
Minutes for your sprinklers

Turn this into minutes on your water days

Every city page has a calculator that takes Immigrant forage kochia, your sprinkler type and the month, and gives the minutes per water day for that supplier's schedule. Or put it in a zone of the personal watering plan and get all twelve months printed.

Questions people ask

How much water does Immigrant forage kochia need per day?

In July on the north-central coast, established Immigrant forage kochia needs about 0.1 gallons a day for a plant 4 feet across and about 0.3 gallons a day for a plant 8 feet across. Give it in deep waterings spread days apart rather than a little every day, so the whole root zone gets wet.

Does watering for Immigrant forage kochia change across California?

Yes. WUCOLS rates Immigrant forage kochia separately for each of the six California climate zones: very low water in the North-Central Coastal zone, not evaluated in the Central Valley zone, not evaluated in the South Coastal zone, not evaluated in the South Inland zone, low water in the High and Intermediate Desert zone, not evaluated in the Low Desert zone. The monthly table above shows how the same rating translates into different gallon amounts as reference evapotranspiration changes.

Is forage kochia the same as weedy kochia?

No, forage kochia is a perennial semi-shrub. The weedy kochia is an annual. Forage kochia is not invasive like the annual.

Can forage kochia slow wildfires?

It has non-flammable properties and reduces fuel loads. A large rangeland fire has burned up to a forage kochia stand and stopped. It helps by replacing flammable annual grasses such as cheatgrass.

Will forage kochia spread?

It spreads onto disturbed, degraded and marginal soils. Settled stands of perennial plants keep it out. Its seed stays viable less than a year, so it cannot build a seed bank.

Is forage kochia safe for livestock?

It does not build up toxic levels of nitrates or oxalates. Cattle eat it. It is valued as fall and winter forage.

How tall does Immigrant grow?

Immigrant is short, about 9 to 18 inches tall. It was the only forage kochia variety in the U.S. until 2012. Other varieties are now available.

More plant watering guides

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Sources