Lawn Watering Tips: When Is the Best Time to Water Your Lawn?

The best time to water your lawn is in the early morning.

Cooler temperatures and calm breezes help keep evaporation to a minimum. It also keeps the turf cooler during the hottest parts of the day, which means less stress on the grass. If it’s not convenient to water in the morning, late afternoon is the next best time. Waiting to water until too late in the evening keeps lawns wet overnight, which can make the grass susceptible to diseases like fungus.

The screwdriver test can tell you how long you should be watering your lawn.

Not sure how long to water your lawn for? Conduct the screwdriver test: After watering the lawn, take a long-blade screwdriver and shove it straight down into the ground. The blade should easily penetrate the soil to a depth of 6 inches. If it doesn’t, you’re not watering long enough.

Use pulsating sprinklers.

These lawn sprinklers shoot out water horizontally at high velocity, so water is not as vulnerable to wind and evaporation as oscillating types, which spray the water straight up, and then rotate side to side.

EXPERT TIP: Lawns in new housing developments often have compacted soil so hard that water can’t sink in. If this is the case, water for 30 minutes, let the water soak in and repeat to avoid runoff.

Go easy with new grass.

Oscillating sprinklers are a gentler choice for new lawns until the grass takes root. For newly planted grass seed, keep the top inch of the soil moist, but not soggy. Monitor and water regularly until the grass is 3 inches high, then water on your regular cycle. When mowing, take wide, slow turns to prevent the mower’s wheels from tearing up the new lawn.

Look for signs of under- or overwatering to know how often you should water your lawn.

Experts recommend watering clay soils once a week and sandy soils about every three days. Signs of under-watering include brittle, dry or brown grass. Signs of overwatering include mushrooms, weeds, spongy grass and runoff.

Get a timer.

You will never need to worry about having to shutoff your sprinkler or wonder whether your lawn got enough water.

Be consistent.

Toggling between letting your lawn go dormant and keeping it watered is hard on the grass. It’s far better to make a choice. Letting it go dormant like it does in the winter won’t harm the grass as long as there’s not a drought lasting longer than a month. A dormant lawn will comeback to life after a good rainstorm.