Summer can be tough on lawns, especially in areas that don’t get a lot of rain. Even if you have drought tolerant grass, it’s important to ensure that you are watering your grass the right way. For healthy grass, follow these tips on how to water grass properly during the hottest time of the year.
When to Water Your Lawn
The time of day that you water your lawn is very important. The best time to water the grass in the morning, as early as you can. Many people think this is because if there is water on the grass during the day, it gets amplified by sunlight and can “fry” the grass. However, this isn’t necessarily true for lawns. If you water in the afternoon or evening, the grass doesn’t have time to dry up before nightfall. If your grass is wet during the night very often, you risk your lawn becoming diseased or growing fungus.
How Much to Water the Grass
How much water you give your lawn is as equally important as the time of day it’s watered. Instead of thinking about how much water your lawn needs per day, you should think of how much water per week it needs. For a healthy lawn, don’t water every day — this will result in your grass having a shallow root system. Instead, water deeply a few times per week to encourage deep roots. The depth of your grass roots determines how strong and healthy your lawn is.
The amount of water your grass will need is approximately 1-1.5 inches of water every week. To be fairly accurate, you should purchase a rain gauge so you can see how much water your grass is getting. However, you can also simply water your lawn for 20 minutes — this is the time it will take for your lawn to absorb a half inch of water. Do this three times per week, and you’re at the 1.5 inch mark.
How to Water Grass With Sprinkler Systems or an Irrigation System
You can automate watering your lawn by installing an irrigation system. Sprinkler systems work well for this purpose and can be set on a timer. However, you want to pay attention to what your sprinkler system is doing — if your water is running down the street, you may need to turn the sprinklers off, allow the water to soak in, and then resume watering the grass. This is particularly true if you have clay soil.
Also, pay attention to the coverage you’re getting — you want to make sure that all areas of your lawn are getting watered. If there’s a spot that doesn’t seem to be getting healthier with watering, you should look for disease.
What to Do When It’s Really Hot Outside
When summer temperatures reach 90 to 100 degrees and stay there, you’ll have to water your lawn more than just 1.5 inches. Increase your watering time from 20 minutes three times per week to 30 minutes. You may also want to water a little bit every day to cool your grass off.
With proper lawn care, your grass can be lush, green, and healthy, even when summer temperatures soar. Follow these tips and watch your grass thrive!