How to grow a healthier lawn with less water

As warm temperatures continue, your lawn may be feeling the heat just as much as you.

Most years, Wichita doesn’t get enough summer rain for optimum lawn growth. About half of all residential water use in Sedgwick County goes towards irrigating lawns and gardens during summer months.

“Drought is something that’s pretty common in this area,” said Dr. Dale Bremer, a professor of turf grass science at Kansas State University. “Given that, it’s really important that we learn how to irrigate our lawns more efficiently.”

More efficient watering can save money on your water bill. It can also make your lawn healthier.

It is possible to keep your lawn alive – and even thriving – while using less water. It all comes down to choosing the right grass, getting to know your lawn, and watering strategically.

Choosing a grass variety

Turf grasses come in two main varieties, cool-season and warm-season. Cool-season grasses, such as tall fescue or Kentucky bluegrass, are the classic lawn grasses that maintain a deep green color for most of the year.

Warm-season grasses, such as zoysia grass, bermuda grass, and buffalo grass, require less water and are more tolerant of drought conditions. However, they aren’t widely used in residential lawns because they tend to turn brown early in the fall, and don’t turn green again until late in the spring.

If you don’t mind a slightly browner lawn, a warm-season grass might be a good choice to save on your water bill.

Even if you already have a lawn planted with cool-season grass, or just prefer the look of greener grass, you can probably still cut back on watering without damaging your lawn.

In a recent experiment, Bremer’s research group exposed tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass, two popular lawn grasses in Kansas, to artificial droughts of differing severity.

They found that tall fescue typically recovered well from drought conditions. Even the grass that received no water for two months recovered when the scientists resumed normal watering.

“It shows you how tough tall fescue can be,” Bremer said.

Newly-sodded Kentucky bluegrass did not fare as well. None of it recovered after even less severe drought. Though Kentucky bluegrass is typically thought of as drought-tolerant, Bremer says it may need a few seasons of watering before it can survive prolonged drought.

Strategic watering

No matter what type of grass you have, getting in tune with your lawn is the first step to watering smart.

“The biggest thing is just to pay attention and watch the lawn,” said Bremer.

As a rule of thumb, lawns needs about an inch of water a week. With enough rain, you won’t need to irrigate your lawn at all.

You can monitor rainfall amounts using a rain gauge in your yard, or online resources like the National Weather Service, or the Community Collaborative Rain Hail & Snow Network, an online network of volunteer precipitation monitors.

If it hasn’t rained for a while, then it’s time to keep an eye on your lawn.

When your lawn starts to wilt and show some brown, a simple soil test can tell you if it’s time to irrigate. All you have to do is stick a screwdriver or pen into the ground, and see if the soil still feels moist. If the ground feels hard, go ahead and turn on the sprinkler.

“This idea that it has to be lush green is something that we’d like to get away from,” said Bremer. “If it turns a little bit brown, that’s okay.”

This method of allowing your lawn to experience mild drought stress before watering may actually be better for your grass than watering it constantly.

“Sometimes when you let them go just a little bit dry, it actually stimulates them to grow deeper roots,” Bremer said.

Those roots will help your grass tap into water stored deep in the soil.

A little bit of water can go a long way. In Bremer’s study, tall fescue grass that received 50% of its typical water needs recovered much faster than the grass that got no water at all.

“If you can give it some water, even though it might not be a lot… that’s better than no water at all,” Bremer said.

When you do water your lawn, do so at a rate that allows the water to soak into the soil without running off. Make sure to water in the early morning. Nighttime watering can cause your grass to develop diseases.

Bremer also recommends fertilizing your lawn in the fall, which helps the grass grow deeper roots during its winter dormancy. Summer fertilization is not recommended, as it can encourage grass to grow too much and require more water.

More information on lawn irrigation management is available from the Kansas State Turfgrass and the K-State Sedgwick County Extension websites.

This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 5:01 AM.