Tips on how to properly water your lawn

How much should you water?  How often?  Proper watering is crucial to having the best-looking lawn on the block.  Here are some key points:

• Your lawn needs at least 1”-1 ½” of water per week, year-round, during the
  winter, too.
• Water deeply 2-3 times per week, rather than daily.
• Water as early in the morning as you can, when possible.
• If you can’t push a 6” screwdriver into your lawn, you’re not watering enough.
• You will need to water more in the heat, especially if you have a fescue lawn.
• Don’t water so long that it runs down the street.
• If you have automatic sprinklers, check them regularly to know if you’re getting complete coverage.
• If a brown area doesn’t respond to watering, look for another problem.

Let’s go over these points.

Your lawn needs at least 1″-1 ½ ” of water per week, year-round, during the winter, too.

Lawns that are dry going into winter or during winter are more stressed and more likely to sustain winter damage. How do you know how much you’re getting?  First of all, buy a rain gauge.  If you get an inch of water in it per week, you’re cool.  If you don’t, you need to water.

How long should you water to get one inch?

We can’t tell you that because we don’t know what kind of sprinkler you have or what your water pressure is like.  With automatic sprinklers, it’s usually one hour.   But you can measure that yourself.  Just get a tuna can, which is 1” tall (eat the tuna out of it, first) and place it where your sprinkler is hitting.  Run your sprinkler and see how long it takes to get a half-inch of water in the can – just like a rain gauge.  Usually, it’s about 30 minutes.   So 20 minutes, three times per week will get an inch of water on your lawn, and 30 minutes 3 times per week will get 1 ½” down.  Bear in mind that you will need to water more during extreme heat due to evaporation and heat stress on the grass.

Water deeply 2-3 times per week, rather than daily.

Watering daily will give your grass a shallow root system.  Shallow root systems dry out fast and weaken your turf.  Watering deeply three times per week will give your grass a deep grass root system, making it stronger and more drought-resistant.

Water as early in the morning as you can, when possible. 

Watering early in the morning will make sure that your lawn dries entirely before nightfall.  A wet property at night regularly can lead to fungus and disease problems.  Also, it’s more relaxed and less windy in the morning, so you have less evaporation, which will save money on your water bill and take less time to get the water on your lawn.  If morning watering is impossible, watering at any time is always better than not watering at all!

If you can’t push a 6” screwdriver into your lawn, you’re not watering enough.

Watering 1″-1 ½ ” per week is a guideline.  Different soil types need different amounts—a combination of the soil of clay and sand, which makes loam.  A sandy loam won’t hold moisture as well as a clay loam.  Clay has moisture better (think mud,) but the water is slow to penetrate it.  You can tell your dominant type of soil by getting a moist handful and squeezing it.  Clay will mush into a ball that doesn’t fall apart.  Sand will stick together when pressed, but not for very long.  Our soil is mainly on the clay side in Kentucky, unless you’re by a river, and then it leans toward the sand.  High winds also dry out your lawn incredibly fast.

You will need to water more in the heat, especially if you have a Fescue lawn. 

You may need to water more in the summer heat to keep your lawn from becoming drought-stressed, especially with high temps and high winds.  If we have extreme temperatures – high 90’s and over 100 degrees – for a prolonged period, you might want to 1) raise your mowing height a little 2) water lightly daily to cool off the grass (this is especially true for Fescue.)  Grass needs more water during the heat because it also uses water as an internal coolant.  Daily watering should be done.

Don’t water so long that it runs down the street. 

If water starts running down the street before you get your half-inch on there, turn off the water and wait for it to soak in, then resume watering.  This might happen if you haven’t had time to water for a while.  If it happens every time you water, either you’re waiting too long in-between watering or compacted soil.  Compaction occurs in heavy clay soil or high traffic areas.  Aeration may temporarily cut the problem, but you have to change the conditions causing the compaction for long-term relief.

If you have automatic sprinklers, make sure you are getting complete coverage.

Have you ever driven by a neighborhood entrance or along with a business with beautiful landscaping that has this one sprinkler head aimed out at the street, and every day it’s on, spraying in the street, even if it’s raining – even if it’s cold. Is it making a nice icy spot on the road?  Watch your sprinklers, so you don’t have one like that!

If a brown area doesn’t respond to watering, look for another problem. 

Assuming your sprinkler coverage is adequate, you might have a fungus, Spring Dead Spot, Chinch bugs, construction debris buried a foot under the soil, or any number of problems that mimic drought stress.  Please take a closer look, or call us to come out and look at it.