Lawn Watering Tips
Watering Lawns
Cool season lawn grasses go dormant during hot dry summer weather if not watered. During the dormant period the grass is brown and will not recover from injury or compete with weeds until watered. Once a dormant lawn is adequately watered, it greens up and begins growing again.
It is necessary to water your lawn consistently in order to be kept nice and green throughout the summer. Whether or not to water is a decision that must be made before the lawn goes dormant. Starting a watering program, especially if the lawn is fertilized, and then stopping, can be more harmful than allowing the lawn to go dormant at the beginning of the dry weather. Do not start watering if the watering can not be kept up through the entire summer period.
Early morning watering is preferred in most cases. This will enable the water to soak to the roots before mid day when water evaporates due to high temperatures. Wind may affect water distribution during mid-day watering. Established lawns require 1- to 1 1/2 inches of water per week. This is about 640 gallons per 1000 square feet. A garden hose would normally take about 2 hours to apply an inch of water to 1000 square feet. Sandy soils will require two watering per week to maintain adequate moisture levels. Apply the water before the lawn goes dry, you'll notice it will begin to wilt. Wilted lawn grasses will have a bluish cast and footprints will persist for some time. Once wilting occurs, begin watering.
How the water is applied is important. Sprinklers should apply the water evenly over the entire area. A good sprinkle system will provide double coverage which means each sprinkler heads sprays to water to the other heads around it. To determine how long it takes a sprinkler to apply an inch of water, put cans at different spots in the sprinkler pattern. Turn on the water and keep track of the time it takes the sprinkler to put an inch of water in all the cans.
Apply the water only as fast as the soil can absorb it. Heavy clay soils absorb water slowly. After the surface layer is wet, the water will run off rather than soak into the soil. Once you see your water running down the street you can stop watering. For heavy clay soils it is better to water 4 times a day for 5 minutes each instead of 20 minutes at a one time watering. Any rainfall must be considered as part of the inch of water for the week. Summer rain often comes in the form of thunderstorms during which a lot of water falls in a very short time. Since much of this water runs off, it is not captured by the soil for plants to use. Do not consider short, intense rainstorms as providing a significant amount of water for lawn growth.
Homeowners with underground sprinkler systems should set the system to apply water based on the types of soil and water penetration.
Lawns infected with certain diseases have circles of dead grass with green grass in the middle. These symptoms can be reduced by watering lightly every day to reduce moisture stress.
