When is the Best Time to Water Your Lawn?
Watering is one of the most crucial care practices for a lawn. While it might seem straightforward, missteps can occur—like creating an incorrect watering schedule or overwatering. Here’s what you need to know about when you should water your lawn and other best practices.
What is The Ideal Time to Water Your Lawn?
There are two different times that are best for watering your lawn. Compared to watering in the afternoon—when the sun is at its strongest—they offer milder temperatures, fewer risks of evaporation or wind and other advantages.
Early Morning
5-10 a.m. is generally the best time of day to water your lawn. Here’s why:
- Photosynthesis: Grass can use the water throughout the day as it photosynthesizes, leading to better overall growth.
- Stress Reduction: If grass is already wet when the sun is at its peak, it can better handle the heat.
- Cool Soil: Cooler soil allows water to penetrate further into the ground and encourage deep root growth, which is more advantageous.
- Drying Out: Grass blades can dry out during the day as the sun rises, reducing the risk of fungal diseases that thrive in wet conditions.
Early Evening
If your climate calls for more frequent waterings, or you’re not able to water early, 4-7 p.m. is the second-best timeframe. It has many of the same benefits, but there is a risk—if your lawn remains too wet overnight, conditions will be right for disease-causing fungus.
The Dangers of Overwatering
Overwatering simply means providing your lawn with water it does not need. This can be most dangerous in the warmer months of summer if your lawn has gone dormant (i.e., stopped growing), as it can convince your lawn to “wake up” and put it through drought conditions it’s not ready for.
Consequences of Overwatering
Overwater creates poor yard conditions, including:
- Runoff: When all of the water can’t be absorbed, it can cause flooding, eroding your lawn and washing away fertilizer, seeds and more.
- Fungal diseases: Stagnant water on your lawn can lead to the creation of lawn diseases.
- Insect Breeding: Mosquitoes and other undesirable insects thrive in standing water.
Barefoot lawn care can help with lawn drainage if the problem becomes extreme or it seems like there could be another cause.
What Are Practical Tips for Efficient Watering?
With these best practices, you can make your watering efforts more effective.
Watering Techniques
You generally want to opt for deep and infrequent waterings vs. shallow and frequent ones for long-term lawn growth and drought tolerance. Your cadence can be tweaked further based on excessively hot weather that calls for more water or cooler weather that calls for less. Generally, you should water about three times a week for a total of .5 to 1 total inches of water.
A big asset for watering can be an irrigation system, though it should not be run at all times. A smart irrigation system can automatically determine how much water is needed, which makes your job much easier. If your irrigation system encounters any issues, our experts can help.
Monitoring Soil Moisture
The best days to water are when there is observable moisture stress. A good indicator of this is if you step on your lawn and your footprint remains visible. You can also use a smart irrigation system, a moisture meter or even just an inch-deep container on top of a part of your lawn to keep track of how much water it’s getting.
Adjusting for Weather Conditions
You’ll want to lessen your watering if there’s a chance of rain. You can try to account for this yourself, or a smart irrigation system can leverage weather forecasts and do it automatically.
Support a Stronger, Healthier Lawn With Barefoot Lawn Care
Quality water practices are essential, but they’re still only one part of protecting your yard. For everything else, Barefoot Lawn Care offers the custom coverage you need. Get started with your free lawn analysis and learn which lawn services are best for you.