We have all heard the saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." Or maybe its more accurately said, "The grass is greener where you water it." Either way, a healthy lawn requires some proper care. That care starts with proper watering, which is one of the important components to achieving a lush, green, healthy lawn.
Keeping your lawn healthy requires a fair amount of water. Ensuring a lawn has plenty of moisture is important to keeping it green all season long. All too often; however, lawns are drastically overwatered. Ideally cool season lawns only need about one inch of water per week during the growing season. Most of the time this amount can be met by natural rainfall; however, during dry periods a lawn will need more watering by way of irrigation. This advice is for northern, cool season grasses such as Kentucky Bluegrass, Perennial Rye, and Fescues. Different type of grasses and local climate conditions will likely change how much water is needed; as will soil conditions and previous lawn care routines.
Overwatering a lawn not only waste precious water, but can also invite pests, fungus, and other diseases into the lawn. Water is an important resource that must be managed properly to ensure we are protecting our environment. When we over water a lawn this resource is wasted through runoff. When a lawn is too wet to absorb water into the soil, the water eventually runs off into storm drains and waterways taking chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides with it. Too much water on a lawn also promotes shallow root systems. Shallow roots make the lawn weak and susceptible to drought, disease, and erosion. When erosion occurs in a lawn the living microorganisms and other nutrients in the soil are washed away leading to a dying lawn.
When watering a lawn, water infrequently but thoroughly, meaning less often but for a longer period of time. It is generally not good to water a lawn every day. It is best to run the sprinkler only once or twice per week (depending on rainfall), three times during extremely hot dry weather. Remember, a lawn only needs one inch to about one and half inches of water per week. By splitting your watering time in to two sessions you should water long enough to measure a half inch for each watering. Using a rain gauge is a good way to measure your sprinkler's water output onto the lawn.
Watering daily does not benefit the lawn. Either it will become overwatered leading to waste, or if the sprinkler is ran daily but for only a short period of time; the water does not have time to pernitrate deep into the soil reaching a deep root system. By watering only one, two, or seldom three times per week the sprinkler can run for a longer period of time allowing the water to soak down deep into the soil and encouraging deeper roots.
Also, as the heat of summer approaches it is important to either commit to faithful watering or allow the grass to go dormant. If you commit, keep watering twice, or three times per week to ensure the lawn stays hydrated. If you do allow the lawn to go dormant in the heat of summer, avoid watering it. By underwatering during dormancy the lawn will actually be under more stress than just letting it go dormant. This is because the grass wants to conserve energy and nutrients; but by watering it, the lawn will begin using these nutrients to grow but will then begin going back into dormancy with not enough water. This will stress the lawn leading to disease.
It is also best to water the lawn in the early morning hours. By watering in the morning there is not as much water loss by evaporation. Trying to water in the heat of the day is fruitless; the water will just evaporate faster than it can soak into the soil. Watering at night is also a poor choice. When watering at night the grass stays wet for too long leading to fungal disease and other pests. Watering in the early morning means more water can soak deep into the soil, but also means that as the sun rises the grass can dry out avoiding mold and fungus.
Water conservation is an important factor when caring for a lawn. Sprinkler systems are becoming more advanced as an option to save water. Also, proper lawn care techniques are important for conserving water. Adding organic matter such as compost to the soil can improve nutrients and water retention, using natural organic slow-release fertilizers as opposed to synthetics also improves soil quality leading to a lawn needing less water, aeration opens up compacted soil allowing better water penetration into the soil which also leads to less watering. There are many options to conserve water and still have a lush, green, beautiful lawn.
