A Bucket Can Show You How Much To Water This Summer

How much should you be watering your lawn this summer is a question I get asked a lot.

The short answer is roughly an hour per week per zone, assuming you are using a standard sprinkler spray head (you can download our free summer watering guide here.)

Where do I get that number?

Imagine placing a bucket full of water in the middle of your lawn in full sun. If you came back and checked that bucket after a week, you’d find that it has lost about an inch of water. A lawn is no different. Your lawn loses about an inch of water per week during the summer. I recommend an hour per work per zone because a standard spray sprinkler head takes about an hour to put out an inch of water.

When I ask people how long they are watering in the summer, I generally hear “about 30 minutes” which is not long enough. Consider that bucket in the middle of the lawn again. If we are only adding a half of an inch per week (what a standard spray sprinkler head will put out in 30 minutes) while losing an inch per week when we come back at the end of the month, the bucket will have a lot less water. It won’t be empty. But it won’t be enough to keep your lawn thriving through our hot summer months.

As summer progresses, your soil will get progressively dryer, making it difficult for the grassroots to reach down into your soil to get to the water.

If your sprinkler system has rotary heads, you want to be watering about 50% to double the time of standard spray sprinkler heads since rotary heads have to cover twice the area to deliver the same amount of water.

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Founded in 1980, we are a family-owned and operated lawn and landscape company based in Plano, Texas. Call 972-495-6990 or email me [email protected] for more information.

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