The Truth About Watering Your Grass
Question: If I want lush green grass how much should I water it?
A fairly common question actually. For which a pat answer is often provided when really the best answer is “It depends.” Because there are many things that come into play when answering it.
Typically an inch a week is the off the top the head response to this query. But like many rules of thumb that start out as guidelines they all too soon become more rules to live by that you deviate from at your own peril.
I put it that way because how much and often you need to water comes down to a number of things. So there is no one size fits all answer that covers the issue. Because it can’t.
For instance how often to water depends on how often it rains. Obvious I know. But I had to say it.
Related to that last point is you only want to water when your lawn needs it. And it’s not like it has a calendar counting down the days to the next water-fest. But if it looks weak and limp (under stress) and when you walk on your grass you can look back and see footprints because it doesn’t spring back like it should, well, it’s fair to say that it’s time to water.
How often to water also depends on the grass you’ve got. Some varieties require more others need less – water.
Your mower setting comes into plays as well. The shorter you cut your grass the more water it will likely take to maintain a decent looking lawn. Plus whether you bag the clippings or not matters too.
“How are your roots?” is another good question to answer. Obviously the deeper your lawn’s roots the less often you should need to water. One way to get deep roots is watering deeply. Recognizing water that has soaked beyond the root zone is of little use to your grass.
Grass Truth: The height of the blades correlates to the depth of the roots. Deeper roots are associated with longer blades.
It’s also wise to let the top of your root zone to dry out. Doing so helps keep diseases at bay, weed seeds from germinating, and causes shallow rooted weeds to die off.
Another thing to take into consideration is the type of soil you’re dealing with. Clay soils hold water longer than a sandy loam is apt to. There is no one size fits all here. Everyone’s yard will have different water holding properties. You want to water to the point the top three to four inches of soil are wet.
The final point is don’t set the output of your sprinkler to that there’s more water than the soil can absorb. Any resulting run off isn’t going to help your grass look any better
There. The science of watering your lawn involves more than chanting one inch a week. Getting these points will help you get a better looking lawn with less water.
