how long should you water your lawn per zone?

If you’ve found that your lawn needs 30 minutes of water each time you water it, try dividing it by half and watering each zone for 15 minutes. Watering the proper amount is critical—overdo it, and your grass, your water bill, and the environment will suffer. All rights reserved. Instead of watering a few times a week, you will need to take a mister and gently spray the newly seeded areas once to two times a day, depending on the weather. Most lawns need 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week—either from rain or watering—to soak the soil that deeply. How to Water Your Lawn. It also helps prevent weed seeds from germinating. They’ll need about 1-1.5 inches every week until the growing season ends, roughly when the first frost sets in. Use this chart as a starting point to determine the number of minutes to water each zone on the days you water. There are many different ways to efficiently and automatically water your lawn. The best time to water your lawn is before 10 a.m., preferably between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. At this cool time of day, it’s less likely the moisture will evaporate before your grassroots can absorb it from the soil. While most established lawns will get by on one inch of water per week, soaking the soil to a depth of about 3-inches (deeper than the root zone) will encourage deep roots, making the lawn better able to withstand drought. However, during certain times during the summer when high temperatures are the norm, you should allow lawns to naturally slow down in growth during those extreme conditions. This also tells you that you need to break up watering times to allow the water to soak into the lawn. This helps prevent fungal problems. Another test is to shove a knife or a screwdriver into the ground. So, 20 minutes, three times per week will give a lawn about an inch of water. How Long Does It Take to Put 1/2 Inch of Water on the Lawn? In order to irrigate efficiently, you need to know the type of grass in your lawn and its water requirements, the type of soil in your lawn, and your irrigation system’s precipitation rate. Controlling weeds also controls the need for water because the grass will have less competition for moisture. How much water does a lawn need? You need to care for different grass types in different ways to keep them at their healthiest and hardiest. However, you may not know how long you should water your grass in order to keep it green and healthy. How long you should water depends upon two factors: 1. Tankless Water Heater: What You Need to Know Before You Buy. Overall, they require less water than cool season grasses, but even they need extra water in the dead heat. If your lawn is well-watered, your grass should spring right back up where you’ve stepped. There are several tell-tale signs that you need to water your lawn. The average 15'x15' bermudagrass lawn uses over 5000 gallons of water per year. This Old House Reviews Team recommends TruGreen, a lawn care provider that offers five annual plans, a wide range of a la carte services, and highly trained technicians. To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com. In general, how much water grass needs ranges from 1 to 2 inches per week. The Best Time to Water Grass on a Hot Day, How to Fertilize a Lawn With Ammonium Phosphate. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Mow your grass to 1 ½ inch in the fall. Lawn maintenance can be simple; you just need to know a few tricks and consider hiring the right kind of help. It may be cool then, but if the moisture sits on your grass overnight, it can make your lawn more prone to disease. You’ll also want to make sure your lawn is properly fertilized, aerated, and overseeded as needed, and that it gets regular weed and pest control. The best time of day to water your lawn is before 10 a.m., or between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Be sure not to ever water your lawn at night when the moisture will linger until morning. So 20 minutes, 3 times per week will get an inch of water on your lawn, and 30 minutes 3 times per week will get 1 ½” down. Here are a few methods for finding the number of minutes you should water your lawn. Purdue University: Home Lawn During Drought: To Water ... or Not? Watering is one of the main things when it comes to taking care of your lawn. This is wasteful and is not healthy for your grass. Just read this handy guide to learn everything you need to know about the proper way to water. Many factors influence how often you need to water your lawn. This Old House Reviews Team recommends hiring a lawn care company like TruGreen. You should water your lawn once or twice a week, giving your grass 1 to 1.5 inches of water each time. Watering more frequently than three times a week is verboten. If you don’t water cool season grasses during a drought, they will go dormant but re-green when it starts raining again. Another quick way to check is to stick a screwdriver into the soil. The easiest, most efficient way to do that is by hiring a professional lawn care company. Copyright © 2020 This Old House Ventures, LLC. Lawn irrigation systems vary from the modest to the premium, which might feature hundreds of heads and miles of pipes and wires, as well as a remote control for the ultimate in efficiency. Watering enough to keep your grass green all summer can mean a hefty water bill. The answer to this varies slightly depending on the type of soil you have and your sprinkler output. You can use cans of tuna (about an inch deep) to measure how long it takes each zone to water a full inch. Be careful not to allow the water to run for too long so you don’t waste water and damage your lawn. If it doesn’t, it’s lacking moisture, so it needs water. If you can see your footprints when you walk through the grass or if the blades of grass are folded, these are indications that your grass needs more water. Revelations Lawn Care has a water meter on its main web page to help determine the present watering needs. The amount of water your grass needs to stay healthy. If your area receives sufficient rainfall in autumn (around 1 inch per week), you might only have to water areas that have been overseeded or where new lawns have just been started. How much time should be spent on lawn watering? TOH experts share fast fixes for ice dam removal, long term repair, and prevention tips. Icicles may be pretty but they can tear off gutters, loosen shingles, and cause water to back up into your house. University of Wisconsin Extension: Lawn Watering. Luckily, This Old House has created a guide to watering your lawn, teaching you how long to water, how often to water, and more. So, when is lawn watering necessary? 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