Late-Summer Lawn Watering Guidelines
August 1st marks the halfway point of summer. Here in Texas, it also starts the hottest month of the year. The temperature is constantly in the 100’s and rain is almost nowhere in sight. The lawn that you have been maintaining is going to be under tremendous stress. Much like humans, it’s important that your lawn remains hydrated to survive this heat.
It’s partially true that grass goes dormant because of heat. What’s actually happening is that the heat is raising your soil’s temperature, causing water evaporation and a loss of nutrients. After two to three weeks in this condition, grass will naturally become dormant. This is why it’s critical to be watering your lawn properly.
The rule of thumb is to water deeply and in the morning hours. To water deeply, you need to let your system run, take a break, and run again. This allows the water on top of the grass to penetrate the soil. If you only run the system once, you will lose most of the water to runoffs or evaporation. By watering in the morning, you reduce the potential for evaporation and fungal diseases.
How much to water a lawn mid-summer? It depends on the type of sprinkler heads in each zone.
Stationary Heads don’t rotate and should run about 10 mins.
Rotary Heads and Drip Line Systems should run about 20 mins.
We recommend running your system twice a week in the morning hours. Each of those days, you want your system to run through two cycles. (A sequence where each zone runs once is a cycle.)
In addition to following these watering guidelines, you can also look at using our a moisture manager service to reduce watering requirements. We use a product called Hydretain. You can learn a little more about it here.
While there are other actions to help your lawn, watering is key. By following these watering guidelines, you can know just how much to water a lawn in this scorching heat.
