Watering your lawn may seem like a straightforward task, but there’s more to it than just turning on the sprinklers. The amount of water your lawn needs can vary depending on several factors, including the weather and soil type.
How Much Water Does Bermuda Grass Need?
Your Bermuda grass lawn will generally need around 1 inch of water per week, either from natural rainfall or irrigation. However, this is just a starting point and may need to be adjusted based on weather conditions. The mean summer evapotranspiration rate ranges from 0.15 to 0.28 inches per day. The variety of bermudagrass, soil texture, root depth, slope, temperature and sunlight can all affect this. Start at one inch and increase or decrease based on results, or use a smart controller that does it for you.
Seasonal Adjustments
Watering your lawn effectively requires adjusting to seasonal changes in evaporation rates, which are influenced by temperature, solar radiation, wind speed, and humidity. Here’s a streamlined guide to help you water your lawn throughout the year:
| Season | Watering (inches per week) | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | 0.5 – 0.75 | Weekly |
| Summer | 1 – 1.5 | 2-3 times a week |
| Fall | 0.5 – 1 | Weekly |
| Winter | Minimal | Rarely |
Smart Controller: Automate Your Watering
A smart controller is a device that connects to your irrigation system and adjusts the watering schedule based on weather conditions, soil type, and more. This is incredibly useful if you don’t want to think about adjusting your watering too much or if you weather changes a lot. Take a look at the top smart controllers here.
Benefits of a Smart Controller
- Efficiency: Saves water by adjusting to real-time conditions.
- Convenience: Automates your watering schedule, freeing you from manual adjustments.
- Healthier Lawn: Provides optimal watering for each season, promoting a healthier, more resilient lawn.
The Importance of Head-to-Head Coverage
What is it?
Head-to-head coverage refers to the arrangement of your sprinkler heads so that the spray from one head reaches the adjacent head, ensuring even water distribution.
Why it Matters
- Even Watering: Helps to avoid dry spots and ensures that all areas receive adequate hydration.
- Efficiency: Maximizes the effectiveness of your irrigation system, reducing water waste.
The Tuna Can Test: Measure to Manage
What is it?
Many people incorrectly measure their amount of water in minutes. For example, they say they water their grass “30 minutes per zone” which is meaningless. The tuna can test involves placing empty tuna cans around your lawn while watering. The goal is to measure how much water is being applied during each watering session. A tuna can is about an inch deep so you can see how long it takes on your system to put down 1 inch of water.
How to Do It
- Place empty tuna cans at various locations on your lawn.
- Turn on your irrigation system.
- Measure the water level in the cans after a set period (e.g., 15 minutes).
- Adjust your watering time to ensure you’re hitting the 1-inch per week target. If you’re using a smart controller, calculate and input your inches per hour value for each zone.
Deep Watering
It’s better to water your lawn deeply and less frequently than to give it frequent sips of water. Deep watering encourages:
- Deep Root Growth: Promotes a more robust root system.
- Weed Prevention: A well-hydrated lawn is less susceptible to weed invasion.
When manually setting watering times (if you’re not using a smart controller) you might water your lawn twice a week in the summer.
Soil Considerations
The type of soil you have can also impact how much water you should apply at one time. Sandy soils may require more frequent watering, while clay soils may require less but for a longer duration. Clay soils should also leverage soaking periods where the lawn watering cycle is broken into soaking cycles. For example, if you need to water for 30 minutes, watering for 10 minutes, with 20 minutes of break/soak, followed by 10 minutes of water and repeating is going to be ideal.
Here’s a typical watering sequence for a small 3-zone system. This waters all zones for 30 minutes. So something like this may run 2-3 times per week.
| Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Water for 10 minutes | Off | Off |
| Soaking | Water for 10 minutes | Off |
| Soaking | Soaking | Water for 10 minutes |
| Water for 10 minutes | Soaking | Soaking |
| Soaking | Water for 10 minutes | Soaking |
| Soaking | Soaking | Water for 10 minutes |
| Water for 10 minutes | Soaking | Soaking |
| Soaking | Water for 10 minutes | Soaking |
| Soaking | Soaking | Water for 10 minutes |
Beyond the soil texture (sand/silt/clay ratio), there are other factors that influence exactly how you should be watering. For example, zones that get less sun than others, like side yards, will not need as much water as parts of your lawn that get 8+ hours of sun per day. Similar to clay soils, lawns that have a slope to them should be watered with a soaking schedule to allow water to soak into the soil so it doesn’t have much runoff.
As you can see in the advanced settings, area, available water, root depth, allowed depletion, efficiency , crop coefficient and nozzle inches per hour all play into how long your sprinkler should run.
| Factor | Description | How It Influences Watering Decisions |
|---|---|---|
| Area | The size and shape of the lawn. | Helps determine the volume of water needed and how to distribute it evenly across the entire lawn area. |
| Available Water | The amount of usable water in the soil available to the grass roots. | Used to calculate how much water the soil can hold and how quickly it dries out, adjusting watering frequency accordingly. |
| Root Depth | The depth at which the grass roots extend into the soil. | Deeper roots can access more water at lower soil levels, allowing longer intervals between watering sessions. |
| Allowed Depletion | The fraction of available water that can be used before irrigation is needed. | Sets a threshold for when to start watering based on how much water the soil can lose before harming the lawn. |
| Efficiency | The effectiveness of the irrigation system in delivering water to the lawn. | Influences adjustments in water delivery to compensate for losses due to wind, evaporation, or runoff. |
| Crop Coefficient | A factor representing the plant’s water needs relative to a reference crop. | Adjusts the baseline evapotranspiration rate to match the specific water needs of the lawn, ensuring appropriate moisture levels. |
| Nozzle Inches per Hour | The rate at which the irrigation system nozzle delivers water. | Helps calibrate the system to deliver the precise amount of water needed during each irrigation cycle, preventing over- or under-watering. |
When / What Time of Day To Water
We’ve covered how frequently and how much to water, but we haven’t talked about time of day. The ideal time to water your lawn is early morning. I set my controller to finish by sunrise. If you water during sunlight, you run the risk of evaporation. If you water during the evening, you run the risk of fungus.
Some will also run their sprinklers for a few minutes during the afternoon to “cool off” their grass, but for bermuda grass, that’s not necessary. Bermuda grass doesn’t struggle as much with the heat as most think. It struggles during high heat because of the lack of water, so if you’re watering sufficiently in the morning, it can make it through a day of high heat without trouble. There is no need to run your sprinkler mid-day to “cool” the lawn.
Conclusion
Watering your lawn is not just about meeting a weekly quota; it’s about understanding your lawn’s unique needs and adjusting your watering practices accordingly. By ensuring head-to-head coverage, using the tuna can test, and opting for deep watering, you can create a more resilient and healthier lawn. So grab those tuna cans and get ready to give your lawn the hydration it deserves. Be sure to check out our advanced watering guide and seasonal watering guides for a deeper look.
Leave a Reply