Lawn Dethatching Guide: How & When To Detatch Your Lawn
Why Should I Dethatch My Lawn? Thin layers of thatch allows water, nutrients and air to penetrate into the soil and reach the roots of your lawn, but too much thatch can do quite the opposite. With thatch thicker than 1 inch, your turf will become a haven for insects and other pests. Lawn diseases also thrive in thick thatch.
When Why And How Often To Dethatch Your Lawn
Generally, lawns prone to thatch buildup should be dethatched once a year. âDethatching is typically done when the lawn is growing and able to repair and recover, and when weather conditions are conducive to survival ,â. Mann says. In most growing regions of the U.S., this means the spring or fall, when warm …
Hold Off Watering Lawn After Utah Declares Drought Emergency
SALT LAKE CITY With Gov. Cox calling for a state of emergency due to the widespread drought in Utah, now is not the time for residents to be watering their lawns.
The Utah Division of Water Resources is asking residents to hold off irrigating their personal home landscaping in an effort to conserve water.
Officials estimate more than 20 billion gallons of water could be saved every summer if people watered their lawns according to the Weekly Lawn Watering Guide.
According to the current edition of the guide, no areas in the state are advised to water. The guide uses data to give recommendations on how many days per week to water lawns based on conditions in each county.
Youve probably heard by now that were in one of the worst droughts on record and that soil moisture is at…
Posted by Utah Division of Water Resources on Saturday, March 20, 2021
The department says watering now can actually do more harm than good to residential lawns. Homeowners are urged to let their turf build up strong roots before the summer, and watering now could lead to shallow and weak roots.
A state of emergency declaration will allow for state and federal resources to be used to help farms and communities that might be impacted by what is expected to be a long, hot summer.
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Is It Ok To Water Grass At Night
And watering in the morning keeps the turf cooler during the hot parts of the day, which means less stress on the grass. A wet lawn at night is the perfect condition for fungus to grow. Along with cutting the lawn too short, watering a lawn at night is about the worst thing you can do to it, he says.
How Many Times Per Week Should I Water My Lawn
How Long Should I Water The Lawn? You should water your lawn once or twice a week, giving your grass 1 to 1.5 inches of water each time. The precise number of minutes for each watering will vary from lawn to lawn, depending on factors like the size of your lawn, the type of sprinkler you have, and its settings.
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Tips To Keep Your Lawn Looking Great
Most lawns will benefit from a session or two of aeration. Aerating involves making small holes to alleviate soil that has become compacted. Less compaction means more air, water, and nutrients reach the grassroots. Furthermore, reseeding or over seeding your lawn reduces thinning grass and removes brown patches. Consequently, both aeration and over seeding encourage grass to keep more water.
Why Should I Aerate My Lawn
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About Author
Stuart Morrison
Hi everyone, my name is Stuart Morrison and I am the editor-in-chief and author of the Answeregy website. I am 35 years old and live in Miami, Florida. From an early age I loved to learn new things, constantly reading various encyclopedias and magazines. In 1998 I created my first Web site, where I posted interesting facts which you could rarely learn elsewhere. Then, it led me to work as a content manager for a large online publication. I always wanted to help people while doing something I really enjoyed. That’s how I ended up on the Answeregy.com team, where I… Read more
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When Should Sprinklers Be Turned Off
You should shut off your irrigation system just before temperatures in your region begin to dip below freezing at night. Dont shut off your irrigation system too early. Often homeowners shut their systems down as soon as the fall season arrives because they believe that their lawn requires less water.
What Do You Do After You Aerate Your Lawn
What to Do After Aerating Your Lawn Leave the soil plugs on the lawn to decompose and filter back into the holes left by the aeration machine. Apply fertilizer immediately after aerating your lawn to put nutrients into your grass roots. Reseed your lawn, especially in areas of the lawn where the grass is thin.
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Is It Better To Water In The Morning Or Evening
Morning Watering Best Watering early in the day provides the plants with moisture for vigorous growth during the day and prevents heat stress. In contrast, evening watering must contend with remaining soil heat from the day, but winds may be dying down, allowing sprinklers to spray where they should.
Find An Ifa Country Store Near You
Information for this article was provided by Aaron Jaussi, Branch Manager, Provo IFA Country Store Tina Potter, Utah Certified Nurseryman, Washington State Certified Nursery Professional , & Lawn & Garden Dept., Ogden IFA Country Store and Ken Holt, Lawn & Garden Category Manager, IFA Country Store
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When Should I Turn Off My Sprinklers In Utah 2020
Whether you have a secondary system or a culinary system, October 1st is a good time to turn it off, said Joshua Palmer with the Utah Division of Water Resources. But why October 1st? The days are shorter, the nights are cooler, the plants and grasses will go into dormancy anyway really soon, Palmer said.
Does Watering In The Sun Burn Grass
Rather than settling on blades of grass as scorching magnifying glasses, water droplets evaporate quickly when the sun directly hits them and heat is high. To avoid this evaporation, water your lawn in the early morning. In other words, dont let the sun scare you from watering your lawn when its at its thirstiest.
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Best Time Of Day To Water My Lawn
As summer nears, the climate in Utah gets hotter and drier. You need to water the lawn at the right time. The best time is before 10 am and after 6 pm. At this time the sun isnt as strong, the weather cooler, and so, the roots have time to absorb the water before its lost to evaporation. Reducing the level of evaporation loss promotes water conservation. Its vital to be water-wise, especially in Utah, one of the driest states in the nation. Typically, the use of irrigation systems, i.e. sprinklers, helps conserve water. That is why fan-style pop-up heads are preferable over rotary-style systems. The former is much more efficient.
Regular Lawn Maintenance Is Key
The best time to ready the yard and help prepare the lawn for the growing season is spring. Essentially, spring lawn care is about removing weeds and fertilizing the soil. A good fertilizer does wonders for the soil and helps to increase root mass. Likewise, weeds can steal nutrients and water from the grassroots and so will need to be removed. Removing weeds may be done by hand, a weeding tool, or by the use of herbicides.
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What Is The Best Grass Seed For Utah
When should I Dethatch my lawn in Utah? In Utah, this can be from March to early April, depending on the year and conditions we are having. Itâs best to not power rake in the Fall time because the thatch in the Fall can help protect the lawn from the winter snow and protect it (It also doesnât look the greatest if itâs done in the Autumn …
How Often Do You Need To Water In Utah
Due to the severe drought, we recommend watering 2 times per week in Northern Utah and 3 times a week in Southern Utah to help extend the water supply. The goal during extreme drought conditions isnt lush landscapes but rather survival watering to keep high-value plants alive like trees and shrubs.
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Best Time To Water By Month
Watering your lawn changes with each month in the summer. For example, early summer still sees temps in the 80s, but by the middle of August, temps can reach upwards of 100 degrees. This drastic increase in temps makes it necessary to water your lawn more often. Watering a lawn every day for 10 to 15 minutes isnt going to cut it in the hot summer months. Your lawns root system needs to grow at least three to four inches deep to remain healthy for summer.
It also depends on your soil since that has a big impact on watering. For instance, if you have clay soil, you will need to water less than if you have sandy soil since one particle of sand is around 500 times larger than an ounce cup of sand, hence the more surface area a soil has, the more water clings to it this decreases drainage and increasing the ability of water holding. Here is a month-by-month water guide for June, July, and August.
Not Watering Long Enough
This goes hand in hand with not watering every day. If you do water every day but only for 15 mins each day, you may think spacing it out will get a consistent amount of water to your grass. Youre wrong. You should be watering less frequently. But you should be watering deeply. Look at that thermometer again. If you are looking at 70-80 degrees you want to get about a half an inch of water onto your lawn. Usually, that means about 15- 20 mins per station with pop up spray heads, and 30-40 mins per station for far shooting rotating pop up sprinklers. If the temp outside is 90-100+ youre looking to get 1/2 3/4. Try 25-35 mins per station with pop up spray heads and 40-60 mins per station for far shooting rotating pop up sprinklers. Your watering time may vary so make sure you are doing some research on how long you need to water to get the appropriate amount of water on your lawn.
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Watering In 90 To 100+ Degree Weather
- Water 3 to 4 times per week.
- Set watering time to achieve 1/2 3/4 inch of water per station per day.
- For fan style pop-up spray heads, the average time is 25 to 35 minutes per station .
- Rotary-style systems average 40 to 60+ minutes per station .
- Follow the watering guide below to determine your exact watering time.
- Alert! You will most likely need to hand water some areas your automated system will not be able to uniformly cover all areas in this heat. if you only increase your watering time you will drastically over water some areas and probably still have some dry, dead spots to deal with.
When Should I Turn Off My Sprinkler System
You should shut off your irrigation system just before temperatures in your region begin to dip below freezing at night. Dont shut off your irrigation system too early. Often homeowners shut their systems down as soon as the fall season arrives because they believe that their lawn requires less water.
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How Often Should You Water Your Grass In Utah
How Much Water?
Your grass should ideally receive at least an inch of water or more all year long whether it’s from rain or from your sprinkler system in Salt Lake City. An inch allows the water to soak to a depth of 6 to 8 inches for optimal growing conditions. If you aren’t sure how much an inch is, take a few empty tuna cans and place them in various spots on the lawn. It should take an average of about 30 minutes for your sprinkler system to deliver an inch of water.
Time of Day to Water
The time of day that you water your grass in Salt Lake City matters. It’s ideal to water in the morning, preferably before 10 a.m., because it’s cooler and the roots have more time to absorb the water before the sun evaporates it. If you can’t get it done in the morning, try not to water any later than 6 p.m. because you want the blades of grass to dry before night comes. If your lawn is regularly wet at night, you’ll drastically increase the chances of disease or fungus.
How Often Should I Water?
It depends. If it’s been a rainy week, you might not need to water your lawn at all and can thank nature for taking care of your lawn. If it’s been a few days of sunny skies, your lawn might need a bit more water than usual. You should aim to give your lawn a deep watering two or three times a week instead of watering every day. Daily watering creates a shallow root system which dries quickly and is weak. Your lawn will be stronger and retain water longer with a deep root system.
Watering During The Summer Months
Depending on where you live, you may not need to water your lawn during the spring. The soil beneath the grass is often saturated with water from snowmelt, and spring rain will provide even more water.
However, as temperatures rise in May and June, you should slowly start watering your lawn more thoroughly and more frequently.
Start with watering once a week for about twenty minutes at a time, applying roughly half an inch of water to the grass. As temperatures exceed 80 degrees, you may need to start watering every three days for thirty to forty minutes at a time, or one to two inches of water each time.
The most common turf species in Utah and the broader Intermountain West is Kentucky Bluegrass, which needs about two inches of water per week in the summer.
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When Should I Start Watering My Lawn In The Spring
Water not only quenches the grass’s thirst, it also provides it with nearly all the essential nutrients that are dissolved in it. Hence the best time to start watering the lawn in the spring is as early as possible. Lawns thrive on regular watering and the sooner it starts getting watered in the spring, the sooner it will turn green.
Watering In 70 To 80 Degree Weather
- Water 2 to 3 times per week.
- Set watering time to achieve half an inch of water per station each time you water.
- For fan style pop-up spray heads, like the one pictured here, the average time is 15 to 25 minutes per station .
- Rotary head style systems, the far-shooting rotating kind, average 30 to 40 minutes per station .
- Follow the watering guide below to determine your exact watering time.
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Watering Lawn In Fall
- Continue watering your lawn about 2 to 3 times a week while temperatures are between 70 and 80 degrees .
- When temperatures start to fall below 70 degrees, water 1 or 2 times a week .
- Once the weather turns cold enough, you can stop watering because the lawn will start to go dormant.
- Keep your water on until the forecast warns of below-freezing temperatures.
- Turn off your watering system right before temperatures reach freezing.
Watering Dos And Donts
Water your yard early in the morning and soak the ground thoroughly so that it penetrates to a depth of at least 3. While the amount of water needed will vary depending on your climate, the weather, and the time of year the general rule of thumb is to make sure your lawn receives 1 of water to your lawn per week during dry conditions.
To see how much water your grass is actually receiving, put several containers with straight sidessuch as a coffee mug, metal can, or plastic containeron the ground around the yard while you are watering. Then use a ruler to measure the depth of the water in the container.
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Watering At The Wrong Time
To water well, timing is everything. Water in the early morning between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. Midday watering leads to wasteful evaporation, while nighttime watering causes droplets to cling to grass overnight, increasing the chance of lawn diseases.
A Dual Outlet Electronic Water Timer will prove handy for those mornings you are away or want to sleep in. Just program the start time, frequency and duration of watering, and let the timer take care of the rest. The dual outlets make it easy to hook up two hoses at once and program separate schedules for different parts of the yard. We suggest attaching a Flexogen Super Duty Hose, as it easily curves around the yard without kinking and connects to a spigot without leaking saving water and money.
