How to Irrigate a Lawn Watering and mowing properly are the two things you can do to get the most out of our products and services. More than anything else, watering deeply and infrequently and mowing to 2.5 to 3 inches will dramatically improve the appearance and health of your lawn. Watering is one of the most important elements of growing healthy grass, and is THE KEY to your role in this partnership! To maintain a healthy, dense, green, actively growing turf, it is essential to water a lawn during dry periods. While most people think a lack of water will damage the lawn, overwatering may cause more damage. It is easy to overwater a turf area. Download this .pdf for more information...

Watering Guidelines In general, it is better to water deeply and infrequently, rather than short, more frequent watering. However, this depends on a number of factors: Sandy soil will require more frequent watering than loamy or clay soil. Warm temperatures will necessitate more frequent watering than cool temperatures. Sunny lawns will require more frequent watering than shady lawns The idea is to get water down to the root zone (6” to 8” deep) and then let the soil dry out before watering again. This will encourage the roots to dig deep for water and nutrients. Deep roots = healthy grass that won't get baked in the hot summer sun. Avoid watering during the daytime hours, and during the middle of the night. Early morning is best, when the grass is wet naturally from the dew. Allowing the grass to dry out during the day will discourage disease and funguses. Initial setting for sprinkler systems: 45 minutes to 1 hour per zone, twice per week. Watering with a hose and sprinkler: 1.5 hours per area, twice per week.

Why Grass Needs Water

Grass requires water for photosynthesis. It needs enough to dissolve and absorb nutrients from the soil to manufacture food in the blades. Without sufficient water, photosynthesis stops and the blades begin to lose color. Plant cells use water to generate turgor pressure. The pressure of cells pressing against each other creates stiffness that allows the plant to stand upright. Low turgor pressure (not enough water) results in wilting. Just like we sweat, grass uses water to stay cool. About 90% of the water plants absorb evaporates into the air for temperature control. As the temperature rises, grass uses more and more water from the soil to stay cool, and requires more water to stay green.

Turfgrass dormancy (brown turf) is a survival mechanism that allows grass to live up to 5-8 weeks with no irrigation/precipitation without significant thinning upon recovery from dormancy. This would be under ideal conditions of no regular traffic, good soil, moderate temperatures, no shade, minimum thatch, etc. However, survival is affected by species, age, shade, maintenance (low mowing and/or scalping, too much nitrogen fertilizer in spring, not enough in fall), traffic, heat, etc. Optimum survival may not occur on your particular area (courtesy Purdue University).