RAIN!! Finally...Relief for Our Chicago Lawns. Water Lawns the Right Way.

Water is THE most important thing you can provide your lawn. Let's learn how to water lawns the right way.

After a late spring dry spell of nearly 14 days, the Chicago area finally experienced some relief.

Non-irrigated lawns began to brown, a clear indication that they were entering dormancy, while other households broke out the hose and watered a bit.

This brings us to a conversation on watering. When, how much, how often, etc. Let's determine how to water lawns the right way.

For starters, let's make one thing clear:

WATER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN PROVIDE TO A LAWN. Period. Above, fertilization, any soil amendment, or macro/micro-nutrient. Without it, you can fertilize with any element, and if the plant cannot absorb or uptake the nutrient, it's useless and pointless.

Water is followed closely by light, temperature, damage, and then fertilizers and food.

We can't necessarily control light and temperature, but we can generally control water and watering habits, as well as some of the damage we cause and the use of fertilizer. However,for this post, we're focusing on water.

So, where to start?

First, determine whether you plan to irrigate your lawn throughout the year or allow it to go dormant during the hot months. Allowing the lawn to go dormant and then pulling it out of dormancy several times a year can stress the grass and cause it to die off. Please choose one or the other and stick with it.

If choosing dormancy, do not fertilize while entering and/or during dormancy or immediately after taking it out of dormancy. As such, do not fall for the "summer stress" fertilizer scams that many turf salespeople push. There is no such thing, and you're wasting your money as well as potentially harming the environment by overusing elements that are unnecessary for your lawn's health. Also, be sure to inform your lawn care provider that you plan to allow the lawn to go dormant so that they won't fertilize during this period.

If choosing to continue watering, try to stay on your grass's schedule. Watering when the grass goes brown is too late. It's entering dormancy, and you're stressing the plant. Look for the leaf's blades to start curling. When that happens, water. Whether it's deep and occasional or shallow and more often, really doesn't matter. Get some water down between rainfalls.

Water lawns the right way

Aim for 1 - 1.5" of water per week. This is both natural rainfall PLUS your irrigation. Any more is a waste. Place rain gauges around the yard and run the water until you hit the 1 - 1.5" mark (including natural rainfall) for the week. Grab something similar to these from Amazon:

Then, download an app and either use the free version or, better yet, the paid version, which is extremely reasonable for the data it provides. The app is called "Raindrop," and it keeps a running tab on rainfall over several different periods as well as a pretty accurate forecast. Using this app, you can monitor weekly rainfall and supplement only what you need to hit the 1 - 1.5" per week goal. Search for it on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Finally, timing. DO NOT WATER INTO THE EVENING! If you do, expect to be overrun by fungus and either have to pay a high price for curative fungicide applications, or you will lose your lawn and have to reseed it. The earlier in the morning, the better. The afternoon is fine too. Even if it's blazing hot, the water will cool the turf, not burn it, as the internet often suggests.

So there you have it. Determine if you want to allow dormancy or not. If not, water 1 - 1.5" per week to include natural rainfall, water early in the day, and use tools such as the Raindrop app or rain gauges to offset your irrigation needs.

Get this down and you're 90% ahead of your neighbors. Then we can focus on mowing technique, foot traffic, and fertilization in our next posts!

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