First, watering at the appropriate time and frequency are very important for your lawns health. We are going to discuss when to start watering your lawn, when to water your lawn, and how frequently to water your lawn.
Begin your irrigation program when most of your lawn has come out of dormancy (turned green). This begins closest to the soil, so you will need to look beneath any dormant grass. Starting your irrigation prior to this can lead to fungal issues and if using our maintenance service, can prevent us from putting heavy equipment of your lawn as we try to remove most of the dormant grass before spring.
If you use us for maintenance, you do NOT want to water within 24 hours of your service day. In early spring once most of your lawn has come out of dormancy, we recommend watering 1x per week, .75 inches per zone as the rain we receive typically offset additional water requirements. We recommend watering 2x per week, .5 inches per zone for your summer program. In the summer most southern lawn require 1.5 inches per week so if there is a period of drought, simply increase your watering duration on those two days, you do not need to add a third day.
This watering routine encourages deep root growth, which keeps your lawn green longer during periods of drought/heat. It also reduces the chance of nutsedge (a perennial plant not prevented by preemergents) and doveweed as they prefer damp soil, and this routine allows the top layers of soil to dry out between watering.
Finally, the preferred time to water is early in the morning. This ensures the sun is able to dry your lawn out, significantly reducing the chance of fungal growth.
An example of the summer program if using our maintenance service with a Tuesday service day would be watering on Sunday and Thursday. This allows your lawn ample time to dry out before your service day and gives us a buffer for any delay we may experience (although very rare outside of weather delays).
If you have any questions, please let us know.
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