Windy sites result in faster drying of sod and plants and require additional wat… The goal by wintertime is to have your grass somewhere around two inches tall, as this will keep your grass healthy and disease-free throughout the winter. Some water is a good thing to do to ensure a healthy return in spring. You can find DIY tutorials online, but the safest option is to leave it to the professionals and let a trusted lawn service do the work for you. Well, if the type of grass that you have is a cool-season grass, then this period of time, by definition, is a period of strong growth for your lawn. If rainfall is not sufficient, you’ll need to water during the winter to maintain a healthy lawn. Grass is unable to effectively use large quantities of water at once, and the excess water stays in the soil. Unless you run your sprinkler system from a well, you are also paying to water the grass in winter. Walk across your lawn and see how long it takes for the grass to bounce back. Usually rainfall is enough to see us through. Simply turning off the system and draining the lines is a start, but thoroughly winterizing your sprinkler system requires blowing the water out with compressed air. Most sources agree that in South Carolina, some irrigation should be applied during spells of warmer and dryer temperature, and this should provide for that automatically. Frozen water can burst lines and break valves and fittings, leading to costly repairs. Ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) is also commonly referred to as Italian Ryegrass. During the periods of prolonged winter drought, if the air temperature is above freezing and the soil isn’t frozen, you should water every two or three weeks for 15 to 20 minutes – just enough to provide moisture to the crown and roots of the plants and counteract the drying effects of winter winds. Avoid watering areas of your landscape where the soil is frozen, such in in perpetual shady areas. The whole idea of the watering schedule is to keep the seed moist for 2-3 weeks … Because bermudagrass is no longer growing when dormant, regular irrigation won’t be necessary. For new St. Augustine grass, the time of year will determine how long you need to water. Collect leaves from neighbors to add to compost pile! So, do you water grass in the winter? The main difference is that as the weather cools off, you may notice that the lawn will go into dormancy, which means that the growing season will come to an end. During these cooler periods, the lawn and landscapes should only require once per week watering. In Leander, Ellen and Rick Bickling turned the kids’ old basketball court into square foot | watch episode →, Let’s get growing native fruit trees! With the dry, hot summer behind you, your field desires less to drink. As fall transitions to winter, start to cut back on watering. Native plants are acclimatized to Colorado weather, and therefore will naturally dry out in the winter. For our friends north of Atlanta, where the ground may freeze down far enough to affect buried sprinkler lines, it’s important to winterize your sprinkler system. Mother Nature will likely keep your grass sufficiently hydrated. Instead, much of the growth occurs underground in the root system. You may be tempted to just leave the sprinklers running—grass needs water, right? Winter rye grass (once the seeds have germinated and the grass has filled in) can be watered once a day for 5 minutes (per zone). If your lawn detects a scarce water supply, it will go dormant and turn brown in order to protect the crown. Because your grass has different hydration needs in the winter, you’ll need to adjust the settings on your sprinkler system. These include succulents, cacti, blue grama grass, and buffalo grass. The Need for Water Even if your grass is dormant, the roots still use water to stay hydrated during the cold months. Heavy clay soil holds water much longer than sandy soil. If your grass … But remember, you’ll be watering in vain if you’re doing so when the moisture is high and when the lows have been at or below freezing for an extended time. Son Steve Bartholomew from the Square Foot Gardening Foundation explains why his dad developed the concept, easy steps to make one, and how its global impact conquers hunger. Watering grass even in colder weather is necessary. Adjusting or winterizing the sprinklers is probably not on your to-do list, but for your lawn’s sake, it should be. Even if you have to water in the winter, you can normally water less often than you would in the summertime. St. Bermuda grass, however, sometimes needs up to 1.5 inches. Also, less water evaporates from the grass and soil during cool weather. North Texas lawns typically require about 1 inch of watering per week. Watering in fall isn’t much different from watering at any other time of year. In terms of the amount of water applied each time to your lawn, watering in winter is not much different from watering any other time of the year. (For freeze depth maps and other information regarding your specific location, please contact your county extension office.) of precipitation per week. However there are times that watering your grass can be an advantage such in extreme drought conditions, to allow fast recover from damage or renovations to the grass. Both warm and cool season grasses consume far less water in the winter than in the warmer months since they grow more slowly, if at all. If your lawn is receiving more than one inch of precipitation, then you stop watering the garden. Stop watering at the end of September or October, if your area gets most of the snowfall in the winter season. If it doesn’t rain (or snow! You need not water your winter lawn for as many as two to three weeks after one day of heavy rainfall. Grasses, even cool season varieties, need far less water during cooler months. Winter Watering in Phoenix and the Desert Southwest requires much less watering once temperatures cool down in November. If the lawn is overwatered, then there is a risk of fungal diseases. No doubt, you can find a more exciting way to spend your money than spending it on unnecessary watering. Even in the winter, warm season grasses need adequate moisture to keep the roots of the grass hydrated. ), watering depends on many factors. When the rye grass turns brown, water once a week for 10 minutes to encourage the … While reducing irrigation is an essential part of caring for autumn lawns, don’t stop watering abruptly. , walls and fences are more subject to damage different hydration needs in heat. 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