Please, please, please stop watering your lawn...

Lawn Issue of the Month- Proper Watering

We've been seeing tons of instances of disease in lawns and a ramp up of crabgrass. While the weather plays a role in these issues watering also plays a very large role as well. When I ask about the watering schedule with these customers it's always incorrect. Click here to watch a 1.5 min video that will save you money and your lawn!

Not into videos? Here are the main points:

Watering daily actually is detrimental to your lawn:

1. It promotes disease development by leaving the grass damp and not allowing it to dry out between waterings
2. It promotes shallow roots because the roots will stay where the water is
3. Shallow rooted lawns exhibit heat stress quickly and can cause the turf to die during prolonged dry periods
4. Crabgrass LOVES shallow frequent watering- you lawn DOES NOT!

Watering infrequently for longer durations benefits the lawn:

1. This allows the turf to dry out discouraging disease growth
2. Watering deeply allows the roots to follow the water down establishing deeper roots better able to withstand drought conditions

The time of the day matters:

1. Never water mid-day- evaporation with result in wasting water and causes heat which contributes to more stress on the grass
2. Watering at night promotes diseases by allowing the lawn to stay wet which diseases need to thrive
3. Watering early in the morning is the most efficient way to water. This allows for the water to be absorbed instead of evaporating and the grass to dry out helping prevent diseases

How much water does my lawn need?:

1. Cool season Grass requires 1” spring and fall of water per week and it’s preferable to do this all at once instead of breaking it up in multiple waterings for the reasons mentioned above
2. Mid summer bump this up to 1.5" and spread that over 2-3 waterings per week. Ideally cyclic setting on your irrigation is used and you let it dry out for 2 days between waterings

So how do I know how much one inch of water is?:

1. We get asked all the time “How long do I need to run my irrigation for?” We can’t answer that question with any degree of accuracy since every system has different gallons per min (GPM) and water pressure (PSI). So a good hack to solve this riddle is take an empty tuna can and put it in the lawn then turn the sprinklers on.  When it fills up you have an inch of water applied.  Set your timer for this amount of time.

Watering questions? Let us know! 978-358-8029