5 ways you’re watering your lawn wrong

This article is sponsored by Stewarts Lawn Service Company. Be the envy of your neighborhood this year. Stewarts lawn program is designed for people who are looking for a better quality lawn service. As Utah’s # 1 local lawn care provider, they know when people choose them, they expect more. Stewarts has made it our top priority to deliver on those expectations.

This year, you really want to get your lawn looking better than your neighbor’s lawn. Last year you tried a bunch of stuff. But your grass seemed to fizzle out and get brown at the end of the year. Don’t worry! This year is going to be different. You’ll know exactly what you did wrong. Here are 5 ways you’re watering your lawn wrong.

1. Watering Every Day

You don’t need to water every day! It’s tempting to water as much as possible especially in Utah where it’s a dry desert. But, you may actually be under watering even if you are watering every day. You may be putting extra stress on your lawn by not giving it the water it needs. To correctly water your lawn look at a thermometer outside. If it’s 70-80 degrees outside try watering 2-3 times a week. During the spring your lawn will be fairly easy to manage so you don’t have to water all the time. In the blazing summer, when temperatures are between 90-100+, try watering 3-4 times a week.

2. Not Watering Long Enough

This goes hand in hand with not watering every day. If you do water every day but only for 15 mins each day, you may think spacing it out will get a consistent amount of water to your grass. You’re wrong. You should be watering less frequently. But you should be watering deeply. Look at that thermometer again. If you are looking at 70-80 degrees you want to get about a half an inch of water onto your lawn. Usually, that means about 15- 20 mins per station with pop up spray heads, and 30-40 mins per station for far shooting rotating pop up sprinklers. If the temp outside is 90-100+ you’re looking to get 1/2″ – 3/4″. Try 25-35 mins per station with pop up spray heads and 40-60 mins per station for far shooting rotating pop up sprinklers. Your watering time may vary so make sure you are doing some research on how long you need to water to get the appropriate amount of water on your lawn.

3. Not Using the Seasonal Adjustment on Your Timer

You may or may not have a seasonal adjustment on your sprinkler timer. If you do, GREAT! The seasonal adjustment setting is the easiest way to adjust watering time as the weather gets hotter and cooler.  Set your station watering times to correspond with 75° weather. As it gets hotter increase the seasonal percentage to 120 or 130%.  As it gets colder set it to 70 or 80%.

4. Watering When Everyone Else Does

Watering when everyone else does means you won’t have the same water pressure as you should when few people are watering around you. Also, wind and water-pressure change with the time of day. Morning is often the windiest time and has the lowest water pressure. More people watering in the high heat months means less water pressure, which is one reason why you will need to supplement with some hand-watering.  Also, if not many other people are watering, try watering early in the morning before the sun rises. The water you put down won’t evaporate as quickly or as easily if you water when it’s cool and dark outside.

5. Being Too Concerned About High Heat

No matter what, when temperatures reach the mid 90’s and 100’s it is just hard to keep your lawn looking good.  Plus, this kind of heat is going to show all of the imperfections in your soil and your sprinkler system.  But don’t worry about it. Rather than re-working or your sprinklers in order to fight the extra heat, or trying to water too much, it might be better to hand water the areas you care about and wait for the weather to cool down. Your lawn will likely come back just fine when the temperatures drop again in the early fall.

Water Smarter, Not More

There are some other really great lawn treatments available that will allow your lawn to retain more water as well. Do you want to know more? Contact Stewarts</img class> today to find out more about their 6 Step System with better weed control, better grub control, better fertilization, and better weed prevention.