Knowing how to water is an important part in maintaining a nice looking lawn. Lets break down 3 situations in which you might find yourself.
- General watering
Your lawn needs water in order to perform photosynthesis and survive. A lack of water may lead to drought stress slowing down your grass causing it to go dormant. For generalwatering needs try to water twice per week putting down 1” of water each time. Watering deeply and infrequently will encourage roots to dig deeper, searching for water. You can determine how much to water by measuring how long it takes you to fill a 1” of water. Anything can be used, such as a tuna can, rain guage or plastic container.
- Heat Stress
During times of high heat (approximately 85 degrees or higher) your lawn will develop signs of heat stress, including: turing a gray/brown color, thinning grass blades and your foot print easily appearing as you walk through the lawn (called ghost foot). You can combat this by Cooling off your lawn for 5-10 minutes during the hottest part of the day using the mist setting on your hose. This type of watering if often referred to as syringing.
- Seeding
When your growing grass from seed, you need to keep it moist. No need to drown the seeds as you do not want run-off, just don’t let it dry out. Try to lightly water for 5 minutes when laying down new grass seed followed twice a day watering for 10 minutes each time. Watering is an important part of your lawns growth, look and vitality. Follow the simple tips above to master your lawns water needs.
Lastly avoid watering in the evening as this can increase your risk of developing lawn fungus.
-Joe Tepp
“Just your average Joe, Not your average lawn”