How to water your lawn in a heat waveWhen temperatures rise, you may be wondering how to water your lawn in the heat. Learn how to keep your lawn alive during a heat wave.

WHAT’S NEEDED

– Normal conditions require 1″ per week and extreme temperature weeks require 1.5″.

If you haven’t had us install a WiFi Smart Controller for your irrigation system, then continue reading. If you have, then go read the funny papers.

Lawns seek 1″ of water per week under normal temps and 1.5″ under more extreme conditions (July-Aug) for a cool weather grass. Keep in mind, these measurements are for both, natural (rain) and supplemental (sprinklers) watering.

HOW TO SCHEDULE RECOMMENDED LAWN WATERING IN HEAT

In order to properly water your lawn in the heat, we recommend increasing watering frequency vs. duration. The clay soils that we have in our area have a limit to the amount of water they can absorb. For this reason, we opt to add days to water in lieu of adding time to a zone.

We set schedules for peak time of year to coordinate odd or even days to match odd or even address numbers. Even addresses water on even days and odd waters on odd days. Some clients wish to water more, ie. 5 days. In comparison over a two week period, an every-other day schedule will water 7/14 days whereas 5 days a week is 10/14 days.

WHAT TIME OF DAY TO WATER YOUR LAWN

– Be done with your watering cycle by sunrise.

Time-of-day to water is crucial to avoid lawn fungus, wind and evaporation. Fungus, wind and evaporation are things to avoid and watering at the proper time of day can do just that. 

FUNGUS – You have increased chances of a lawn fungus problem when the sum of the night time low temperature and humidity is greater than 150.

  • Ie: Temp=70 and Humidity=80%
      • 70 + 80 = 150

Watering in the morning is best. The goal is to have the cycle complete by sunrise. Upon sunrise, we start to see wind and evaporation increase. 

Watering late evening means your lawn will sit wet all night. This will increase fungal problems. You want to be watering so that water can absorb into the soil but then dry the blade. 

SUGGESTIONS

– Have your system adjusted and checked by a professional mid-season.

We suggest having your irrigation system reviewed and timers set by a professional mid-season to check for any problems and efficient use. A properly maintained and operated system can save resources in the future. Call us 913-256-5296 to learn more about our system analysis service.

HOME FOUNDATION CARE

If you are not watering your lawn, you should be watering your foundation in times of drought. Our clay soils dry out and pull from the foundation walls leaving them a free standing structure. They were not meant to be or designed to be such. This is when damage can occur. A soaker hose 3′ from the home a few times a week can save costly foundation damage.

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