How much water does my lawn need?
How much water does my lawn need? The answer to that is fairly simple. If you have a common Southern grass like Zoysia, St. Augustine, Bermuda and Centipede, your lawn doesn’t really need a lot of water. These grasses have deep root systems that allow them to withstand drought. If your lawn is healthy and established, you are mostly off the hook.
That seems a little too good to be true.
If you have those Southern grasses like above, they really can survive for weeks without water. Now, it won’t be pretty…they will go dormant and turn brown. Once they get water (whether from rain or your watering) they will recover. Remember that going dormant doesn’t mean your lawn is dead, it is just resting and saving its’ energy.
Dormant lawns aren’t very attractive.
It’s true. No one wants to work all year (or invest in the upkeep!) on a lawn that turns brown because we are too lazy to turn on the sprinklers. Instead of letting that happen, here are a few guidelines to help you with watering.
- If your lawn looks a little gray or dull, water it!
- If you walk across your lawn and your footprints stay sunken, water it!
- Water your lawn before 10:00 a.m. when the weather is cooler. This gives the water time to soak in and evaporate with wind and sun.
- Or…water in the afternoon around 6:00 p.m. allowing the grass to dry before it gets dark.
- Instead of watering once a week and possibly “overwatering”, divide your watering between two times a week.
- As long as your lawn gets 1-1.5 inches of rain/water per week, your lawn will be fine.
If you are into high tech lawn systems…
Today we have “smart” options that allow you to program your watering systems. You can water your lawn from your smart phone and even link it to the local weather system to water at the exactly right time.
Starting with a healthy lawn is the most important part of having a beautiful lawn. A strong and healthy lawn is much more able to withstand extreme summer weather conditions. Whether that is high temperatures or excessive rain or drought, a healthy lawn can fight back.
Lawn and Pest Solutions can get your lawn to that healthy status. You can keep it that way with some simple watering tips. Give us a call and we will send a licensed lawn technician ASAP. We serve neighborhoods and businesses from Memphis to all over North Mississippi.
