Water Wise It ™ – Creating a Water-Wise Lawn!
How much water does the average homeowner in Utah apply to their lawn each year? 50″
IT DOESN’T TAKE THAT MUCH TO BE GREEN!
How much water does it take to keep a healthy lawn green in Utah? Around 24″!
Plants and lawn in a landscape generally require less water to maintain than most people realize. Learn the signs of when your plants are starting to stress and only water or add nutrients when these signs are present. Here are a couple of ways to tell if your lawn needs water:
- Watch for a patch that turns blue/gray earlier than the rest. Use this as a baseline to know when to run a sprinkler cycle.
- If you can see your footprints 60 seconds after walking on your lawn the grass blades are probably lacking water and don’t have the strength to bounce back from pressure. Apply up to 1″ of water.
- Stick a screwdriver into the lawn. If it is easy to push it into the lawn at least 3 inches it isn’t time to water yet.
An average bluegrass lawn can be maintained, verdant green, throughout the year with less than 24” of water! The trick is to water deeply and infrequently. Wait until late in the Spring to water your lawn. During an average year if you applied fertilizer late in the fall you shouldn’t need to water until Mid to Late May. And if you received a lot of precipitation during the winter you may not need to water until June. Waiting until late in the spring to start watering and mowing your lawn will give it a chance to push the roots deeper in the soil and pull from a larger water table during the hot summer months.
Applying 1″ every 7-10 days is much better than applying .25″ every 2-3 days. Follow this watering guide to decrease the amount of water you are applying on your lawn.
And check out this video to learn some more great water conservation tips!
If you have any questions about how to properly water your lawn send us a message on our website or call Chanshare Farms at 866-SOD-EASY (763-3279).
Now, maintain your lawn properly! Go and WATER-WISE IT™!