Summer heat can cause unsightly brown spots on your grass – but your lawn can handle the heat if you follow our tips for when to water.
During the summertime, you want to focus on maintaining the health of your lawn, so it's best to know how to identify when your grass is experiencing drought stress. Brown patches indicate drought stress. A lawn that gets too dry may become dormant and turn completely brown.
1. Water your lawn with at least an inch of water each week. You can test your sprinklers by setting a plastic container nearby and timing how long it takes to water one inch.
2. You actually don't need to water as much in the first few weeks of summer. If you allow your grass to experience mild drought stress, you'll encourage deeper root growth.
3. It might seem like common sense to water your grass when it's the hottest part of the day, but this is actually incorrect. The best time to water is early in the morning, preferably when the grass is still wet with dew. Avoid watering in the evening as this can give the roots too much time to absorb the water which can have the same effects as overwatering.
4. Overwatering can be tempting by dangerous for your lawn. Watering more often will not actually aid in the recovery of your grass; in fact, it can often have worse effects than drought stress. Too much water can weaken the roots and put your lawn at risk of fungal diseases and more weeds.
5. If your lawn is suffering from brown spots, again, don't increase how often you water. Instead, spot-water these areas.
If you're mowing with dull mower blades, this can also cause your lawn to be more susceptible to weed outbreaks and fungal diseases. If you need new blades, use our Parts Lookup tool.
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