Watering your grass is an important step of the lawn care process. Start watering now and when you think you have watered too much, water some more and your probably just getting there. No Water…. you get NO GRASS. It is amazing how many people will pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to establish a lawn but then won’t spend a little time on watering to be sure the grass comes up or the sod lives.
One easy way to make sure you water your lawn correctly is to install an
automatic irrigation (sprinkler) system. Call a licensed irrigation
specialist who can design a system that will maximize your watering.
Newly laid lawns should receive frequent, short bouts (20 minutes) of watering until established.
- Established lawns should receive 1″ of water each time it’s irrigated. (This usually amounts to 45 minutes of watering) This can be measured by putting out coffee cans in various areas of your yard.
- Once water starts running off your lawn onto the street or sidewalk, turn off your water for at least 10-15 minutes and then turn the water back on. Heavy clay soils (Southland, base housing) could be preventing the water from penetrating the soil.
- It is not good to over water your lawn, too much water leaves it vulnerable to drought stress later.
- Watering in the morning between 4 and 6 a.m. is usually the best time to water. The water has time to sink into the soil before the sun hits full strength. Watering at night between 6 and 7 p.m. is the second best time to water. Never water during the day between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Most of the water will evaporate and you increase the possibility of the grass being scorched.